


The Adventure

by liziscribbles



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Angst, Dramedy, Drugged Drink, Friends to Lovers, M/M, NaNoWriMo 2017, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prom and Noct are badass babies, well kinda steampunk kinda magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-01-28 13:33:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 69,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12607748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liziscribbles/pseuds/liziscribbles
Summary: Noctis and Prompto are treasure hunters, searching for relics of times long past.  They end up finding an even grander mystery than they ever could have expected! [ Steampunk/Magic AU. ]





	1. Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> So! I'll still be posting chapters of two of my other projects while NaNo is going on, because I wrote chapters in advance! For now, though, for the extent of NaNo, this fic will be my main priority!
> 
> I've got steampunk outfits chosen for all the kids, too. If you guys are interested in seeing, let me know and I'll share in next chapter's notes. Hopefully!

The last time Prompto had suggested that they 'just go on an adventure,' they'd needed twenty four stitches between them, and Ignis had questioned them for a half hour as to how they'd come out with their lives. They had, though, and that was why, regardless of the fact that it was probably one of the stupidest ideas that Noctis had ever heard, he was here alongside his best friend at the entrance to a massive cave, throwing caution to the wind and going inside to investigate.

Prompto had shown up earlier that morning, sharing some tip that his older brother had given him about a vault key in a broken down mine outside of the grasslands. Since their shared, long-standing goal was to be vault hunters, naturally, Noctis had been more willing than he probably usually would have been to go along with him. They'd gotten a car from the closest station, piled in, and drove across the Leiden dunes to the grasslands, with no real clue exactly where they were headed. All they knew was that the mine was there, it was waiting, and maybe there was a vault key in it.

Vaults. Troves full of treasures from before the Cataclysm, long since buried either in caves or under layers of sand. They were rare to find, hidden in places all over Eos, but anyone who ever found one lived in the lap of luxury for the rest of their lives. Noctis didn't care too much about that part, he was just endlessly curious about what life was like before the Cataclysm. His dad had always talked about the fact that his great-grandfather lived in pre-Cataclysmic times, if only for a short time. Some of the stories he'd heard, some of the ancient pictures he'd seen, made him endlessly curious about what it was like.

Honestly, though, a possible location was all they really _needed_ to know. They'd started adventures with less information. Hell, they'd started adventures with Prompto saying 'my gut tells me there's something this way,' and even though they'd quickly learned not to trust Prompto's gut when it told him things like that... it never stopped them. Just like it wasn't stopping them now.

Noctis looked around the entrance to the cave, and for a second, he thought that maybe he caught sight of a bright red sign with a white warning sigil on it, from the corner of his eye. Before he could crane his neck to look closer, though, he felt his best friend reach out to grab his shoulder and shake it. When Noctis turned, he laughed at the eager smile on Prompto's face. Wherever there was some kind of adventure, Prompto was ready and raring to go. Ill advised or not. Granted, Prompto had a lot more fears, a lot more general phobias, than Noctis did. That was okay, though. That just meant that Noctis had to look out for him a little bit more.

And he would. He _always_ would.

"You bring the shirt lights?" Prompto asked eagerly.

With a nod, Noctis reached into his pack and procured a pair of shirt lights. Prompto's hooked onto one of the many buckles on his shirt, and Noctis' hooked into the pocket of his coat, the pair of them flipped their lights on, and then immediately winced against the brightness. Probably not the smartest choice to turn the lights on when they were facing each other, but it was what it was.

Chuckling, he mused, "well, we're blinded now. Not so sure this is the brightest idea in the world." Even so, though, he continued walking into the darkness, trying to see what he could against the light of his shirt.

"I mean, it was brightness that blinded us. So, I'd say we _are_ the brightest-"

Noctis groaned aloud and flung his head back in the face of his best friend's pun, making a face. " _Please_ , Prompto. It's bad enough I'm seeing little spots of brightness. Do you _really_ need to throw a pun in my face to add insult to injury?" He was making sure to sound as put out as possible, but his smirk was probably belying his words. While Noctis laughed a little bit, he dimmed his light and stepped up beyond where Prompto stood.

All he really knew about the place was that it was a man-made mine. As far as Prompto as told him—as far as _Loqi_ had told _Prompto_ , actually—it had been abandoned for decades. Deemed dry and not worthy of any sort of dig effort. The crews had cleared out ages ago, and what Noctis was seeing around him was further proving that. Broken mining lights, old and frayed wiring, and busted tools littered the floors and walls and ceilings, and Noctis found himself wondering exactly how _long_ this place had been empty. Decades was an answer, but it wasn't enough of an answer.

When he turned to look at Prompto, he watched his friend lean down over a broken generator and hum a soft note.

If anyone could get a generator as busted as this one working again, it was Prompto. His best friend had been raised around a pair of scrap collectors and techie geniuses. Cindy Aurum—Prompto called her his older sister—was the person everyone in Lucis turned to whenever they needed something scrapped, something fixed, or something made. Give her an hour with even the most broken of machines, and she would have it up and running again. She used different methods of electricity than the stream that powered the rest of Lucis and Insomnia, and Noctis didn't understand a damn thing about any of it.

The only ones who really _did_ understand at all were Prompto, Loqi, and Cindy's grandfather Cid. Noctis had long since stopped questioning any of them. He just let them repair anything of his that he ended up breaking somehow or another, and marveled at their work. The way Prompto was eyeing the broken down generator right then told Noctis that he was using his 'techie eye' to try and figure out how to fix the old rusty piece of garbage.

"I don't know how you look at those things without just seeing hunks of metal and wire," Noctis mused, tugging at the lapels of his cloak and stretching his back a bit. It had been a long walk from where they left the car.

Prompto just laughed as he tugged his pack over his shoulder. "It took a lot of practice," he mused as he gathered several bits of metal and wire, as well as a wrench. It was almost like watching magic in its own right, to watch him work. Before he met Prompto, he'd never seen anything like it. People thought that Noctis' magic was amazing, but really, Noctis was just as amazed by Prompto.

Shrugging, Noctis leaned against the rock wall of the cave and brushed his gloved hand down the chest of his cloak. "I don't think, even with practice, I could do what you do." He listened as the small cave filled with the sound of Prompto's mini-blowtorch, then laughed a soft note. He always had everything he needed with him. Noctis didn't know how he did it.

"I mean, I _know_ that I couldn't do what you do. Even with practice." Prompto peered over his shoulder at Noctis with a little grin. "Magic's so much cooler than just fixing up tech that isn't steam-powered. At least, _I've_ always thought it was cooler." He turned back around and went right back to work, grabbing a handful of wire from the same pack and looking it over. He settled on a short length of medium sized wire and put it into the busted down generator, then turned to glance at the wires again before selecting another one.

Mages, in modern Eos, were rare. Noctis knew that the amount of people who could do what he could do were minimal enough to count on one hand. From what he'd been told, though, they used to be a lot more common. All over the place, even. Before the Cataclysm, before the event that shook the world to its very core, mages were almost more common than non-mages. After the Cataclysm, only a few remained, and that few rebuilt the world from scratch. It had taken them years—centuries, maybe—to even get to the point they'd _been_ at. History books told Noctis that people used to have technology a hundred thousand times more advanced than what they had now. Most of it, though, was a distant memory now.

According to the few people with knowledge of pre-Cataclysmic life, they'd been leaps and bounds ahead of where they were now.

Noctis almost wished for those times. Wished for a time when he didn't have to hide because he was a mage. It wasn't like he _had_ to hide. No one was _forcing_ him to, and he was pretty confident that he could fight off anyone who came at him and tried to kill him, but... that didn't mean that he _wanted_ to. He preferred to avoid magic if he could.

Few people knew of his magic. Prompto, of course, was one of the ones who knew. Prompto had never really cared, beyond a cavalcade of curious questions at first. Noctis had answered most of them. The only ones Noctis had strayed away from answering were the ones that revolved around the extent of his magical abilities. Not because he didn't trust his friend, but because he really didn't know. Noctis didn't train a whole lot. Using his magic was something he only did in a desperate situation, and he didn't want to wield a weapon he had no clue how to really use. That was a really fast way to end up hurting someone.

He knew that first hand.

Quickly, he shook that thought, as well as all thoughts about the Cataclysm and what life had been like _before_ it, out of his mind and turned to glance back at Prompto. In the time that his mind had wandered, Prompto seemed to be somewhat confident in the fact that he'd done something with the generator. It still looked like a piece of garbage, honestly. Rusted in all the wrong places and leading to a bunch of wire that Noctis wasn't sure they should trust. Prompto, though, didn't really seem like he held any of the same qualms. He glanced down at the wires, deemed them 'okay,' and then knelt next to the generator again to turn it on.

"Don't generators need steam to power them?" Noctis asked.

Prompto pulled a small pouch from his pack with one hand, displaying it to Noctis. "Not with this. Some kind of powdered stone. Cid keeps it lying around his garage. Uses it to fuel a lot of his cars. Apparently it's better than gas."

Gas was something they'd used a lot in pre-Cataclysmic times, Noctis knew that much from stories his dad used to tell him. They didn't really have it very commonly anymore; things ran more on steam and gears and all of the things that _new_ time had gotten them used to. This powdered stone wasn't exactly common, whatever it was. It made Noctis wonder where Cid found it, but he didn't ask. It always benefited him somehow or another, and looking a gift horse in the mouth wasn't really smart. Especially not in situations like this. He watched as Prompto put the powdered stone into the generator, then without hesitation or any kind of obvious worry that it was going to fry him, flicked the switch.

Noctis wasn't sure if he was surprised or not when it turned on.

The lights weren't exactly reliable; they were few and far between and flickered like someone was flipping a switch on and off. They were there, though, and it was way, way better than just fumbling through a dark cave with nothing but their shirt lights to guide them. A glance along the path they were heading down showed Noctis that the cables that led from the generators to the lights were frayed in places, and those frayed bits were putting off sparks, but as long as they paid attention for spots like that, they'd be okay.

Prompto turned around, smiling triumphantly at Noctis and swiping his hands against each other like he was wiping dust off. "Y'see? Just takes some new style technology with some old style ingenuity, and then everything's okay!" He put his thumbs beneath his belt and tugged it like he was adjusting his pants proudly.

In spite of himself Noctis had to chuckle. It was good, seeing Prompto proud of himself like that; seeing him utilizing his skills in a situation like this. He stepped forward, the tails of his cloak catching the air and tugging the whole cloak just slightly, and placed a hand on Prompto's shoulder. "Didn't doubt you for a second, buddy," he mused.

"Liar," Prompto teased, shoving Noctis gently in the shoulder. "It's okay, though. Maybe someday I can teach you to repair stuff like that, so if you ever find yourself in a situation like this without me, you'll be able to get out of it."

Shrugging, Noctis insisted, "I wouldn't go treasure hunting without my partner in crime, Prom. Wouldn't be as fun, for one. For two, you're the one who keeps coming to me with leads." It wasn't like Noctis looked for them on his own. He didn't have the connections that Prompto had.

That wasn't to say that he was without friends or anything. He had Ignis, Gladio, Luna, Nyx, Iris... he wasn't a loner or anything. He just didn't like talking to people who didn't know him. In fact, he went to great lengths to avoid it. Popular opinion among the Insomnian citizens (the ones that ever found their way to the small area just outside of the city where Noctis lived) was that he was a vampire. He had pale skin, dressed mostly in black, and didn't come outside very often; wasn't social. It made people jump to conclusions, as people were known to do, and that suited Noctis just fine. It kept them all at a distance. Kept them away and from digging too far to find out about his magic roots.

"Plus, you know I'd pout at you for a hundred bazillion years because knowing you, you'd find the answer _right away_ as soon as you started looking."

Noctis smirked wryly. "That your way of saying I'm smarter than you, Prom?" he asked.

Initially, all Prompto did in response was tick his shoulder up in a shrug. "I know my strengths. Research isn't one of 'em. That's Loqi's skill set, which is why I'm _totally_ shocked that he hasn't found us anything yet. 'Bout time that trend changed, I think." He adjusted a couple of buckles on his shirt, idly, unnecessarily since they were mostly decorative. "Now, let's get going, alright? I'm getting antsy just sitting here. I've got a good feeling about this one, Noct."

As much as Noctis appreciated Prompto's optimism—some days, it was the only thing that kept him similarly optimistic—it was hard to feel the same way with the twisting feeling of foreboding that was worming its way through his gut. Still, Prompto had never steered him wrong yet.

Even with that, it was impossible to keep from teasing his friend just a little bit. "Y'know, last time you said that? We ended up all the way on top of Longwythe Peak and I had to warp us both down. Remember?" That trepidation didn't stop him from following behind Prompto as he walked down the cave trail, following the frayed cables.

"Hey. I still stand by the fact that the intel I had put something on top of the peak, okay?" Prompto smirked over his shoulder at Noctis.

Noctis scoffed, feigning anger but barely hiding a smile, as he reminded Prompto that, "it was an adamantoise, Prompto! The peak was a freaking _adamantoise_ and I had to warp us to the freaking Haven so we didn't get crushed? Or did you forget that?" Gently, he shoved his best friend in the shoulder as he jogged a little further down the trail, backward, so that he could still see Prompto's face.

The smirk on Prompto's face was reward enough on its own. "How could I forget? It was terrifying... but it was also kinda awesome, you can't deny that." He shrugged his head to the side and then threw his arm around Noctis' shoulders.

"Awesome he says. But _he's_ not the one who had to listen to lectures from Specs for like, weeks about how reckless we were and how we 'almost got killed.'" Noctis rolled his eyes dramatically, then reached out and yanked Prompto away from a sparking wire.

It looked like Prompto wasn't paying attention, because he barreled into Noctis and the pair of them tumbled into the opposite cave wall. Noctis wouldn't have noticed it, but the second his hand touched the wall to push off and stand up straight again, it was almost like a buzzing of energy started coursing through him. Like there was something in the rock, or something. As soon as he took his hand back and brushed it off on his shirt, the feeling dimmed a little bit. It was still there, though. A glance down to his hands showed him that the runes in his skin—magical runes, things all mages had at birth and the source of their magic—were glowing.

Usually, his runes only glowed when he used his magic. After he warped somewhere or, back when he _tried_ to practice his other power—the one he never used anymore. He was a little bit confused, but before he had the chance to alarm Prompto, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his cloak and hoped that the glowing went away sooner rather than later.

"You have to admit, though," Prompto mused as he brushed his coat off, the buckles clacking together and echoing into the cave, "it was pretty awesome. Even _with_ the lectures. And the... soul crushing terror. I never thought I'd ever get to see an adamantoise up close."

At first, Noctis just hummed in response as he tried to take his attention from the glowing and buzzing going through his skin. He glanced at the wall of the cave, examining the rocks to see if there was any sort of loose wire there, but there wasn't. It was just rock. Some of the rocks were different colored; they were a dark purple that contrasted with the black and gray rocks that composed the rest of the cave wall, but there was nothing remarkable about them other than that. Noctis simply stared, clenching his fists in his pockets, until he heard Prompto clear his throat from a couple of feet away.

When he turned to look, he saw Prompto blinking at him, concern obvious in his eyes. "Y'okay, Noct? Got a hundred mile stare."

That, more than anything, made Noctis jump to attention. "Y-yeah! Yeah, I'm fine," he chuckled awkwardly. "I'm just glad none of the news reports ever got back that it was us that awoke the damn thing. Wouldn't have been a fan of being in the news." He laughed, though it was definitely more than a little bit nervous.

"Loqi was impressed. He was putting bail money together for us, for when we ended up in jail, but we never did." Prompto chuckled fondly and then reached over to brush some dust from Noctis' cloak. "Probably a good thing. We're too pretty to last in jail."

Noctis laughed again. "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Prompto," he teased.

It wasn't. Not even a little bit. Prompto was always nice to him. Too nice to him, really. The thought made Noctis clench his fists a little bit tighter in his pockets. He probably should have been upfront about this whole thing. It wasn't like it was the first time Prompto had ever seen his markings glow. Prompto had seen him use his magic more than any other living person had, so Noctis was sure that Prompto wouldn't make a big deal out of it. Still, the fact that they were glowing and he _hadn't_ used his magic? That was what was scaring him into silence at the moment.

Prompto shrugged. "Guess I've gotta up my game, then," he murmured in response, throwing his arm around Noctis' shoulders again and tugging him down the path again.

"So, how far in is this lead your brother was talking about anyway?" Noctis asked, turning his head away. Gods was he glad that he didn't have any runes on his face.

With a shrug, Prompto turned to glance at Noctis. "Dunno, honestly. He just said he heard that it was in a cave in the area, and this was the only cave I really saw, so..." A second shrug, as though that was enough of an answer to the question. In a way, it kind of was. It was a hunch, much like many of their other adventures were, and while that would have been enough to scare most other people off, it wasn't for Noctis.

It probably should have been. A part of him wondered if, in this close proximity, Prompto could feel the energy as it buzzed through and around Noctis. If he could, he wasn't saying anything, so Noctis just let it go for now and continued down the trail. At one point, they reached a path that was too narrow for the two of them to walk together like they were, so Noctis slid out from under Prompto's arm and stepped into the passage in front of his friend. They honestly both did that way too often. There was a protective instinct in both of them that had some of their friends—Prompto's brother included—thinking that they were dating. They weren't dating, though. The thought had never really crossed Noctis' mind.

Okay, that wasn't true. It had crossed Noctis' mind a couple of times.  Especially after their friends mentioned it. It had probably never crossed Prompto's mind, though. They weren't a couple. No way. That was too crazy.

Noctis shook the thought off as he squeezed through the thin end of the passage—his hands touched the wall and a similar buzzing coursed through him again; upon closer inspection, he caught sight of more of those purple rocks and he started to wonder what in the hell that was about—and then Prompto rushed up beside him. Before his friend had a chance to look, Noctis stuffed his hands back into his pockets again. Nope. Prompto couldn't see that. For some reason, as it stood, Prompto thought Noctis' magic was 'cool.' He didn't want to ruin that.

"This place is kinda creepy," Prompto mused as he glanced down to the end of the new passage they stood in.

Nodding, Noctis hummed a soft note. "It's kinda cool, though. Like how those dark purple stones are sticking out of the regular rocks. It's weird. I don't think I've ever seen them before," he admitted, "but they look really familiar to me. Like I'm _supposed_ to know what they are." _And they make me glow like a human nightlight, too._ Noctis was glad for the layer that he wore beneath his cloak. That was probably the only thing keeping Prompto from seeing the glowing runes on the rest of him.

The pair of them trailed off, and Prompto stopped them at another generator. The lights seem to dim beyond it, and Prompto crouched down, reaching into his bag again to repair it. Other than that, they were mostly silent this time. Noctis took to watching the area around them, seeking out anything that might have been making a home out of caves like this. Creatures liked to hide in places like this to escape the daemons, but daemons also liked to chase them, so it was always a crap-shoot which of the two types of beasts they'd face. At the very least, bandits were never really an issue. Bandits, raiders—whatever people called them—generally stuck to non-cave areas.

It wasn't like Prompto and Noctis were strangers to facing bandits on their adventures. There used to be a whole camp near Cape Caem that, as far as anyone knew, just randomly disappeared from the map. In truth, though, that was another of Prompto and Noctis' adventures. False leads were always a risk. Their informants weren't always trustworthy. Sometimes, people sent them to places like bandit camps with the hopes of luring them into a trap. No one ever expected a pair like Prompto and Noctis to be as tough as they were. Not until they were in the middle of a fight, anyway. Between Prompto's skill with his guns and Noctis' magic, they were always in for a surprise. A surprise that those Caem bandits were fully aware of. Well, the ones who survived, anyway. There weren't many.

This generator repair took a little bit longer than the last. In fact, Noctis heard Prompto give a low hum a couple of times. He pulled his goggles down, and used his blowtorch even more this time than he had the last time. More wires, more of that 'powdered stone,' or whatever, and more time.

In the silence, Noctis' ear caught a gentle rumbling in the distance. Weird. "You hear that, Prom?" he asked.

Prompto didn't really even respond. He was focused on the generator, in the same way that he usually focused on things like this. Noctis glanced down the path, then back toward Prompto again. This was... really weird. Noctis turned his body, then turned up the brightness on his shirt light a little bit to try and see what was down at the end of the path. It was hard to see; all that really stood out were the purple rocks littering the gray and black ones. Noctis squinted into the nothing, and then turned his head back toward Prompto. His friend didn't seem to notice anything.

Now, his runes were growing brighter, though.

When he looked back up from his hands, he jumped and stumbled backward when, in the light of his shirt light, he saw a pair of dark silhouettes approaching. They were human silhouettes, but very shadowed, and approaching quickly. As they got closer, Noctis could very clearly see their clothing. Tattered, covered dirt, but very obviously bandits. The back was emblazoned with a sigil that was similar to the one he'd seen in passing on the sign in front of the cave.

Suddenly, from behind him, Noctis heard Prompto's blowtorch go quiet, and then the telltale sounds of his best friend scrambling to his feet. "Uh... who're you?"

"Think it's us who should be askin' that question, don't you?" one of the bandits asked, reaching forward and snatching Noctis' shirt light from his cloak to turn it on the pair of them.

Noctis squinted against the light, and in the relative silence, he could _very clearly_ hear a rumbling sound in the distance, coming from further in the cave. He blinked a couple of times, then squinted against the light. "We're just here to look around. Happened by the place and-"

The second bandit turned to his buddy and asked, "why're his hands glowin'? He's one'a them! Them _mages_ , ain't he?"

Prompto blinked as he glanced down at Noctis' hands. "Noct?" he asked.

"I'll tell you later." When they got out of this.

With a nod, Prompto reached to his belt placing a hand on each of his pistols. He didn't pull them, not right away, but it was very obvious that the threat—the warning—was there. "Right," he agreed.

Clearing his throat, Noctis turned his attention back to the bandits. "We didn't know there was anyone here," he insisted. "Didn't know this cave belonged to anyone. Now that we do, we'll just-"

Bandit Number One shook his head no. "Can't have you goin' back to wherever you came from and bringin' _more_ buddies back, mage. You see the predicament we're in, don't'cha?" Even as he spoke, Noctis saw him reaching down to his hip for a knife.

In his determination, the runes glowed brighter. Like they were anticipating the fact that he was going to have to use magic to get out of this. Noctis breathed in through his nose, concentrating his effort, and preparing to warp with the closest of the two bandits to get to the nearest cave wall. Before he could even move, though, the bandit lunged, knocking him to the ground and shaking his head no.

"Don't even _think_ about usin' none of that fancy magic. We gotta bring you to our boss to see what he wants us to do with you. _Then_ we'll take care of you both."

Prompto had his hands on his pistols now, but the first bandit threw a knife in his direction, narrowly missing hitting him in the hand. It was enough to startle him, and it did so long enough for the second bandit to rush up, turn him around, and hold his arms behind his back. "Mage sympathizers're just as bad as mages," he hissed in Prompto's ear. "Can't imagine he'll be much easier on _you_ than he will on this one." He yanked up on Prompto's arm, then grabbed a second knife from his belt and placed it on Prompto's throat.

With a huff of non-laughter, Prompto murmured, "ask me if I care." He was acting tough, but Noctis could clearly see the nerves in his expression.

"Try and use any of your magic, and we kill your friend. Clear?"

Noctis nodded once, then turned and gave Prompto an apologetic nod. Before Prompto could respond, though... one of the bandits pressed a knee into Noctis' knee in an attempt to urge him forward. Whoever this boss was, wherever these _bandits_ were... it seemed like they were in it now. Energy buzzed through Noctis' body from his head to his toes, his runes shone bright like glow in the dark tattoos, and he wasn't sure what _that_ was about... but suddenly this didn't feel like one of their normal adventures anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said, for most of November, this fic (as well as two of my others!) will be my main priority!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy! ♥


	2. Slip

The further they got into this complex, the more Noctis felt that buzzing. It was stronger the further they walked, though. It coursed through his body, and felt almost like it was going to exit through his fingertips to shock the man who still held his arms behind his back. It wasn't. His magic didn't work like that. At least he didn't think so. Every now and then, he'd hear a grunt from the bandit guiding Prompto, Prompto would hiss, and then the footsteps would get a little bit quicker. Like Prompto would stop moving. It wasn't surprising. Usually, when he saw something that interested him and that he wanted to understand, Prompto just did that. Noctis didn't exactly _expect_ bandits to be patient with Prompto about something like that, but that didn't mean that he had to like it when they weren't.

"Hey. Keep fuckin' movin'. You got me?" the bandit commanded, shoving Prompto's shoulder while keeping hold of his arms.

Something had caught Prompto's attention, though. Noctis could tell, in the way his eyes moved along the walls and the floor and then back to Noctis, like he was trying to communicate what he was thinking without saying so. They'd been friends for years. It wouldn't take much for Noctis to figure out exactly what he was looking at. As he walked at the speed dictated by the bandit holding his arms, he turned his head in the direction Prompto had been looking, and then blinked when he caught sight of the wires. Not frayed. Not broken and spitting sparks like some kind of broken robot. Some of them looked completely new.

Not to mention the fact that the rumbling was starting to sound like electric buzzing. The sound of steam turbines caught his attention, too, and made him turn to glance at Prompto with his eyebrows furrowed together in concern. He probably should have heeded that sign he saw back at the mouth of the cave, but he'd honestly just been too excited to go somewhere and do something with Prompto, and then the adventure had started and it was the furthest thing from his mind.

As they neared a well-lit area, Noctis felt a solid touch of a cuff around his wrists, the cold feeling of metal against his skin, and he heard the harsh sound of metal scraping metal twice. When the bandit released his hands and shoved him to the ground harshly, he realized that he'd been cuffed. Prompto quickly followed, cuffed and then shoved to the ground, and he landed right next to Noctis. With their hands bound, but freed, their bodies no longer being shoved around like slaves or something, Noctis looked around the area they were in. It was _massive_ , well-lit, and filled with mining equipment.

Plus... every inch of the wall and floor was _littered_ with those purple rocks around the regular rocks. The central room of the mine. This _had_ to be. Noctis watched as Prompto tried to push himself to his feet, only to be grabbed and harshly hauled to his feet again by the bandit who'd been leading him down the hall.

"You first."

Noctis narrowed his eyes and felt the buzzing of energy surging even stronger through his body as he tried to push himself to his feet. Before he could move even an inch, though, the bandit that had been pushing him yanked him up from the ground, too, and tugged him over to a giant rock in the center of the area. Not a normal rock. The _whole_ rock was purple like the smaller bits that littered the normal rock walls of the cave. The bandit shoved Noctis into the stone, and the feeling of the energy buzzing through him was almost overwhelming at first. It almost took him straight to his knees, or made him explode with some kind of magical blast. The only thing keeping him _from_ it was the vague awareness that Prompto was still there. That if he _did_ explode and burst out with _that spell_ , Prompto wouldn't be safe.

Still, it was hard. It took a _lot_ of effort to keep the magic from coming out. He stayed on the ground, in fear that any sort of movement would cause some sort of magical energy to burst out from him, but turned his head to glower up at the bandit.

"We're gonna kill your friend, y'know, mage? Dunno how he's gonna have us do it, but boss isn't exactly keen with trespassers on our property. Maybe he'll have us drop him into the quarry. Or maybe just bash his fuckin' head into the rocks until he's dead. Whatever it is, we'll make sure he dies first so you have to watch."

It was almost like the magic was pulsating inside of Noctis' system now. Anger. Desperation to get them the hell out of this. He scrambled to his feet, but was promptly pushed back down again. Another pulse of magic coursed through him when he hit the ground again, and Noctis almost felt like he was physically holding it back. He couldn't see his hands, but he could almost feel the energy coming from them, too. Like they were twitching. It wasn't like he could warp from here. He needed control of his hands to grab hold of his spirit blade and follow it to the connection point. What else could he do, then?

What good was magic if it couldn't even protect him or Prompto?

The bandit snorted a laugh, then continued talking. "You, though? We might hafta keep you alive. See, boss is curious to see how mage powers react to these rocks. You've noticed your hands glowin'," he raised his chin at Noctis. "Bet all them fancy, magical runes _all over your body_ are glowin' right along with 'em. That means your magic's chargin' up. Bet you felt somethin' when you touched the Scourgerock, didn't you?"

Noctis didn't answer. Now, at least, he knew what the purple rocks were. Scourgerock.

"S'fine," the bandit ticked his shoulder up in a shrug. "You don't gotta answer. I know you did. All the mages we caught do. Most of 'em get overwhelmed by it and end up doin' 'emselves in. Somehow you haven't, though. The boss'll have to call the _big_ boss to figure out what we're gonna do with _you_." He reached down, grabbed Noctis by the collar of his cloak and shoved him into the rock again. Another pulse of energy coursed through him, one that he felt from the top of his head and out through his fingertips, down to his toes.

Again, it took a concentrated effort to keep it from bursting out somehow. Instead, he just grunted and writhed against the pressure that was pushing him closer to the rock. Swallowing nervously, he looked at the dark purple mass of angry stone, and then tried to look over his shoulder at the bandit. "What if I said I'd work with you willingly?" he asked. "Would you not kill Prompto? Would you let him go?"

The question was impulsive and Noctis wasn't sure where it came from, really, but the need not to have Prompto harmed was way, way stronger than any sort of self-preservation instinct that Noctis probably should have had. He writhed again, shoving his shoulder out against the pressure that the bandit was using to hold him in place. At first, the silence was tangible. Noctis almost felt like he could touch it in the air behind him. All he could hear was the buzzing of the electricity and the thumping of the steam turbines, and it was almost like the gears turning in the mining machine were in the bandit's head. They weren't, but it almost seemed that way.

When the man finally spoke, he started with a derisive snort and then asked, "you'd _let_ us experiment on you, just to save your buddy?" in a disbelieving voice.

Noctis simply nodded as another pulse of magic energy wracked his body. "Yeah. Long as you promise that nothing would happen to Prompto, and that you'd let him go? I'd do whatever. You could do whatever..." It was almost foreign to him, how desperate his voice sounded, but it was true. He really didn't care what happened to him from here, as long as Prompto made it out of here with his life.

Almost like they were summoned by the offer and the bandit's difficulty believing it, Noctis heard the creaking of a door opening across the wide expanse of the mining area. The bandit pulling Prompto came out, then shoved him to the ground and turned to look at Noctis and the other bandit. "Gotta take this one to the quarry. Lazarus wants to see you," he told the other one, before wrenching Prompto's arms up and starting to tug him toward a secondary path.

"Wait!" Noctis shouted, and his voice echoed out into the area around them. "Wait! T-tell him what I just said! Tell him that I-"

The first bandit looked from Noctis to the second, before glancing back at Noctis and rolling his eyes. "Mage boy here says he'll let us do whatever, as long as we let his buddy get away," he told the second bandit.

Prompto's shot open. "What the hell are you talking about, Noct?" he asked, jerking his shoulder to the side and pulling out against the man holding onto him.

With a shrug, Noctis explained, "they want me? Then they can have me. Doesn't matter, as long as _you_ get out of here okay." Another pulse rippled its way through his body, and it took a little bit more effort to keep the magic from overflowing, to keep himself from unwittingly casting a spell to protect the pair of them from this whole situation.

A second wrench of his body sideways, and Prompto finally managed to shake his grasp. He rushed forward a couple of steps, toward Noctis. "That's stupid," he answered, his face contorted into a disapproving frown. "Like, really stupid, actually. You can't trust them, Noct. How do you know they won't, like... kill us both anyway?"

Before Prompto could reach Noctis, the bandit caught up to him and grabbed one of the pistols from Prompto's waist. "Do that again and I blow your fuckin' brains out here, you hear me?" he asked.

"You do _that_ and we lose our fuckin' bargaining chip. Easy," the first bandit commanded, releasing his hold on Noctis and shoving him down to the ground. "Mage boy'll let us do whatever we want if we let Mr. Tech Genius here go? Lazarus'll be really interested in that, I think. So, hold your damn horses. Got it?" Turning his attention back to Noctis, he reached down to the ground and yanked Noctis back up. He tugged, dragging him in the direction of a trailer in the corner of the room. "Keep the kid here until we get back out. Knock him out if you gotta. We clear?"

Bandit Two nodded, and the last thing Noctis saw before he was forced to turn around and walk toward the trailer was him shoving Prompto to the ground and stepping on his chest.

Noctis still strained, still craned his neck and desperately tried to get a look at Prompto, at what this bandit was _doing_ to Prompto. He couldn't though. The man pushing him pushed even harder, practically throwing Noctis into a wall and holding him there while he turned and grabbed a door handle, unlocking it and shoving Noctis in once it was open. His body still buzzed, and he still held back the surge of energy, almost like a bottle ready to pop its top while being pressed and squeezed. Prompto was here. That was what he kept telling himself. Prompto was here, and if his powers ended up killing _Prompto_ like they'd killed his dad...

He couldn't do it. Not here.

Instead, he opted to scan the room he was standing in. It was fairly standard, as far as offices went. Brown leather chairs sat along the side wall, matching the rotating office chair on the other side of the desk. The desk itself was made of a latticed metal, and was full of scattered papers. Behind the desk sat a massive stack of file cabinets that stretched from the floor to the ceiling and completely spanned the length of the wall. Noctis' eyes were drawn back down to the desk by a movement that looked like it was straight out of a spy movie. The chair spun, and on the other side sat a man dressed in a nicer version of the bandits' attire.

It wasn't a suit or anything, but the man's slicked back hair and cocky smirk still made him look the part of the spy movie villain. Noctis wanted to pretend that he wasn't intimidated, but the way that the man looked him over made him balk a little bit. He swallowed nervously, but tried to keep any other signs of his discomfort from his expression.

"This is the mage?" the man asked, though the way he was looking Noctis over like he was some kind of goldmine said that he knew, and that the question was really nothing but a formality.

The bandit nodded his answer. "Y-yes, Lazarus, sir," he answered. "This is the mage, and the other is still out there, because he has a proposal for you."

Lazarus narrowed his eyes at his bandit friend—or, underling, it looked more like—and then turned his attention back to Noctis. "A proposal from someone who was bold enough to trespass on our property—a _mage_ of all things—claiming to have no clue what we're trying to do here? I'm almost impressed with the boldness," he mused as he pushed himself up from the chair.

It would have been tough not to show some sign of fear. Still, Noctis wished that he was a little bit better at it. He was pretty sure his teeth were chattering in some kind of fear, and the energy still buzzed through his system like some sort of electric shock. He could almost feel his runes glowing at this point. Still, he didn't back down. Not that he really had much choice, given the way that the bandit was still holding tightly to his arms and keeping him in place, forcing him to look eye-to-eye with a man who probably wanted nothing more than to kill him.

"I'm listening," Lazarus said instead, leaning backward against the desk. "This should be good."

With a nervous breath, Noctis glanced over his shoulder toward a window that looked out at the purple crystal, at where the second bandit twirled Prompto's pistol in his hand and still stepped on Prompto's chest. Turning back, he said, "let my friend go." It was a simple request, more of a demand than he was probably making it sound like, but Noctis tried not to make it sound as unsure as it probably did. "And I'll work with you. Willingly. It's obvious the rocks, whatever they are, have some kind of effect on my magic. And it's even more obvious that you want to find out what it is. You let my friend go, let him leave here, and I'll let you do whatever you need to do."

After a pause, he continued. "If you don't? I'll fight you every second of every day. I'll try to escape, fight you every time you try to run some sort of test on me... I'll fight you every single solitary step of the way," he insisted. And he'd win, too.

Lazarus seemed to genuinely ponder the offer for a couple of seconds, before turning to look at Noctis and tilting his head to the side condescendingly. "An interesting proposition," he mused, "and while I would love to give it my full consideration? I genuinely can't. Your friend, you see, could very easily go back and get _more_ friends, who could find their way here and attack _my_ friends. What hellish situation would we be in then?"

"But-"

Before Noctis could continue, Lazarus pushed off from the desk and approached him with a wry grin on his face. "Besides, I don't think that a criminal who trespasses on someone else's property can be trusted, do you? I would know. It's sort of what my organization has made its bread and butter from." He placed his thumbs in his pants pockets. "It isn't as though we don't have contingency plans to _keep_ you from fighting back, mage. We _are_ mage hunters, after all. What good would we be if we didn't? So, no. I don't think we'll accept your deal. Your friend has to die, and you... you have to go to the cells. My boss will want to come and collect you, I think," he singsonged.

Noctis shook his head no. No way was this happening. No way were they going to _kill_ Prompto and take him to some facility to test on him. Even as the bandit tugged on his arms and Lazarus, whoever he was, gave some sarcastic goodbye and mocked Noctis as he was forced out of the office, Noctis was still adamantly refusing to go along with anything. Just like he'd promised.

When the bandit behind his back commanded that the second bandit kill Prompto, then shoved Noctis down to the ground, that was when he finally completely lost it.

It was like his body was a bottle of soda and someone had shaken the contents hard enough and then popped the top off. Noctis stood up quicker than he ever remembered doing in his life, rushing to his feet and standing staunchly between the first and second bandits. He turned toward the second one, where he had Prompto's pistol aimed at his head, and then breathed in heavily, focusing his energy on using a power that he hadn't used in years. A thick blackness spread slowly across the floor of the mine, spreading like a goo, like a slimy liquid, even though it very much wasn't.

A hole. Noctis was generating a hole that would drop anyone and anything it touched into nothingness. The first sign that it was a hole was the fact that several of the mining tools fell. A large drill vehicle disappeared into nothingness, as did several giant pieces of stone. Smaller tools fell into nothing when they came into contact with the blackness, as did bits of rock that had been jutting out of the ground. Almost like they'd never been there to begin with.

From the blackness came a group of small, lithe tendrils. The first wrapped around the wrist of the bandit attacking Prompto, squeezing until he dropped Prompto's pistol right onto Prompto's chest. It yanked at him, lifted him into the air, and held him over the pit like it was threatening to drop him in. Energy still buzzed through Noctis' body, his runes were practically pulsating on their own, and the hole grew larger, until a small stripe of land that encompassed only the area where Noctis, Prompto, and the first bandit stood was all that remained. The second bandit was still alive, screaming for mercy where the tendril held him in the air over the massive pit of nothingness.

Mercy. When he was about to kill Noctis' best friend and then imprison Noctis for Astrals only knew how long. It was almost funny, except for the fact that it wasn't funny in the slightest. Noctis turned now, with the threat of the first bandit currently minimal, on the one who'd been yanking him around like a kid would to a doll or something. His eyes were narrowed, and in the reflection of the trailer's window, he saw that his eyes were glowing the same purple as his runes usually did when he used his magic. That was new. That was _really_ new, and really worrisome, and Noctis _really_ needed to tell Ignis or Luna or _someone_ about it so that they could research it. Right now, though, that was the farthest thing from his mind.

Almost as though Noctis was commanding it—he wasn't, really. He didn't even know the first thing about how to use this power—a second tendril came up and wrapped around the ankle of the bandit in front of him, hanging him over the nothingness just like the first one was with the other bandit. It dangled him down, shaking him until the contents of his pockets came out and a key ring fell to the ground. The key to the cuffs, most likely. Noctis crouched, gathering it up as quickly as he could, and then turned toward Prompto, who was backing away from the blackness as it spread further. Noctis wanted to stop it. He _desperately_ wanted to stop it. He didn't know how, though.

This was exactly what he was afraid of. This was... exactly what happened on the night his father died when he was thirteen years old. He pushed the thought away, desperately _pleading_ with whatever part of him controlled this power to stop the growth, just as he felt Prompto's back make contact with his. The blackness still grew.

Fear was conflicting with the swell of power that rushed through Noctis' system now. Fear that, just like he'd killed his father, he'd kill Prompto and _then_ suddenly be able to control the power enough to stop it. He tried, he desperately tried to make it stop, but it got closer and closer, and all he could do was turn his head just slightly, and murmur, "I'm sorry, Prompto, I..." to his best friend. Like an apology would help assuage the fact that Noctis was about to kill him.

The only consolation Noctis had was the fact that he'd go shortly behind.

Just like that, though, it was almost like someone flicked an off-switch. The growth of the blackness stopped, the tendrils dropped the two bandits into the hole, and about a thousand times faster than it appeared, the hole closed into nothingness. It wasn't a silent disappearance—it was like a loud and massive suction that sealed with a pop that echoed out through the mine and sent several of the rocks on the ceiling down to the floor—but it was definitely gone now. Noctis' runes still glowed—he knew, because his body still buzzed with energy—but the power just came to an abrupt stop like someone had put on the brakes in his mind.

Behind him, Prompto still stood frozen like he wasn't completely sure of what he'd just seen. Still, Noctis tried to gather his brain, and used the advantage of their position to unlock Prompto's cuffs. He passed the keys to Prompto and waited in silence for Prompto to release his own cuffs. It seemed like, at first, Prompto wasn't sure if he wanted to. That hurt Noctis more than he was willing to admit, but he didn't say anything. It was well within Prompto's rights to be a little bit freaked out, after all. He'd almost just swallowed the pair of them, as well as the whole room, in a massive hole from nowhere.

The door to the trailer slammed open just as Prompto was getting Noctis' cuffs unfastened, and Lazarus—for all of his bluster and confidence before—made a mad dash back inside and slammed the door behind him.

As much as Noctis wanted to chase after him, he knew it wasn't a good idea. Especially given the way that Prompto was staring at him like he was some kind of monster. Noctis suspected that seeing him use his powers anymore that day would be... too much. It might do irreparable damage to their friendship.

"We should... we should, uh... get out of here. Sh-shouldn't we?" Noctis asked, uncertainty making his voice shake.

Prompto, too, sounded unsure as he turned to glance at Noctis, blink a couple of times, and then nod. "Yeah. Yeah, we, um..." he stumbled, then paused, and nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."

It was probably stupid, leaving Lazarus like this. The man, whoever he was, had said that he was a mage hunter. That he worked for someone who wanted to experiment on mages like Noctis. For all Noctis knew, the man was calling his boss right now, putting some kind of bounty on Noctis' head or something like that. Still, staying here long enough to give that boss time to get closer was an even worse idea. Noctis didn't know how close he was to this place. If it would take him four minutes or four hours, or even four _days_ , to get here. Most cities were only connected by train, after all, if a person didn't have access to a car. It wasn't a risk worth taking, especially with these men so determined to just kill Prompto like he didn't matter.

The pair of them took off in a run back in the direction they came. Back past the non-frayed wires, past the second generator Prompto had fixed, through the narrow passageway and past the _first_ generator that Prompto had fixed. Only when they were outside, and there was no sign of any vehicles other than their own in Noctis' periphery, did he allow himself to relax even the slightest bit.

Any relaxation, though, was immediately canceled out by the fact that Prompto hadn't spoken a single word to him since they'd left the mining area. Usually, when they ran away from situations that almost ended with them dead, Prompto couldn't stop talking about how awesome it was. Nothing about _this_ one was awesome, that much was true. Still, the fact that Prompto hadn't said anything—hadn't spoken a single word to him—worried him more than the thought that he'd almost become some kind of magic test subject. Noctis swallowed nervously and turned to look at Prompto.

Instantly, his heart sank.

The way that Prompto was looking at him wasn't... it wasn't the same as usual. Prompto's eyes were wide with fear, almost. Like for the first time, he was seeing what Noctis had been warning him about for the whole course of their friendship. Noctis wasn't a safe person to be around. He was a mage and mages were dangerous when their power couldn't be controlled. It sucked that it was happening _now_ , of course, but... honestly as painful as it was, it was almost a relief. Maybe Prompto didn't hold him on this 'you're so awesome no matter what' pedestal anymore.

Even as they stepped into the car, the air around them was thick with silence. Neither of them really discussed anything; the only sound in the car was the wind whipping around them. As Noctis drove, he noticed the runes fading on his hands, and the energy that had buzzed through him dimmed down to nothingness the further they got from the cave. The further he got from where he'd almost killed someone important to him again.

Turning his head just slightly, he tried to catch Prompto's gaze. Prompto wouldn't let him. Instead, he just stared out the opposite window, out at the ground as the grasslands turned back to desert dunes.

The plan was usually to drop the car off at Cindy's garage in Hammerhead and then walk back to Noctis' place together, but somehow, as they got further and further from the cave and closer and closer to Hammerhead, Noctis realized that it wasn't likely to happen that way this time. While he'd always sort of _wanted_ Prompto to realize exactly how dangerous he was, he hadn't ever thought that it would feel like this. He thought that it would feel _good_ , knowing that he'd kept someone else safe from being hurt by his power. He thought that maybe he'd feel relieved to have saved another life.

It didn't. It was sad, watching as his best friend wouldn't even meet his gaze. Listening to the silence, as neither of them even reached for the radio or tried to _fill_ it with their usual idle chatter. It was sad, it was painful, it was gut twisting. At the same time, it was expected.

Maybe this was what it would finally take. Until this point, Prompto had turned away all possible thought that Noctis was anything but his best friend; he'd laughed it off and shrugged his shoulders and insisted that 'you'd never hurt _me_ , though,' in that nonchalant and trusting voice that always eased whatever pains and worries were on Noctis' mind. Somehow, Noctis didn't see that happening this time. The whole ride was silent like that. Neither of them spoke, Noctis' mind swirled, and Prompto just stared out at the sand as Hammerhead appeared on the edges of Noctis' vision.

Well, if this was it... if this was the end of their friendship? Noctis could honestly say that it wasn't more than he ever expected to have. It was more than he felt like he deserved most of the time. The car slowed to a stop, and Noctis watched as Prompto got out, jumping down from the passenger's side and finally raising his eyes to look at Noctis. Noctis looked back for a second, before taking the keys from the ignition and setting them down on the passenger's seat. It was a long walk, back to his house. Maybe that walk would give him time to think, though. Think about what he was going to do now.

If this was a movie, this would have been the moment when Prompto told Noctis that he'd see him the next day. Clapped him on the shoulder and reassured him that everything was fine. This wasn't a movie, though.

Prompto's eyes were still lined with fear. Of _course_ they were. Noctis had almost _killed_ him. Who _wouldn't_ be afraid after something like that? Noctis just wished for something more than silence. For Prompto to tell him off, or to tell him that he was too dangerous like Noctis knew that he was. He wished for _anything_ but silence.

When the silence finally broke, it wasn't from Prompto, though. It was from Cindy, who came out of the garage with a giant smile on her face and her hands in the pockets of her greasy overalls. "Didn't expect to see y'all back until _sundown _! Usually when y'all go out on yer adventures, I don't see ya until late, when Paw Paw's threatenin' to send out the search parties. Y'got time for lunch, Noct? So y'all can tell me all about the-"__

__Noctis turned from Prompto to Cindy, then shook his head no. "Um... n-not this time, Cindy. I'm just gonna..." He pointed off toward Insomnia. "Head home this time." The attempt Noctis made at a smile was weak. He could tell it wasn't honest, and Cindy would pick up on it, too. The look in Prompto's eyes hadn't changed, though. He was still scared of Noctis._ _

___And he should be,_ Noctis reminded himself._ _

__As Cindy stepped toward Prompto and asked, "Prom goin' with ya?" in her usual cordial and friendly tone—laced with a bit of concern—Noctis froze._ _

__Again, Prompto was silent, so Noctis took the mantle, turning to look at Prompto and trying to memorize his face. Just in case it really _was_ the last time that they were together. After that, he smiled a sad smile, turned to Cindy, and then shook his head. "Not this time, I don't think," he answered miserably, before staring down at the sand, glancing back up at Prompto and Cindy, and then putting his hands in the pockets of his cloak. "Um... tell Cid hi for me. Okay? I'll see you... soon. I'll see you soon."_ _

__Without waiting or listening for a reply, Noctis turned his back to the garage and started the long walk home._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw yeah, startin' things off on a sad note. ;3


	3. Yellow

Prompto didn't like feeling like this. He didn't like having to watch Noctis walk away, walk down the long road from Hammerhead to Insomnia, by himself, probably feeling... well, Prompto honestly didn't know _how_ Noctis was feeling when he walked away. He didn't like knowing that he'd probably made the problem, probably made the _feeling_ , all the worse. Above all else, though, he _really_ didn't like looking at the person that he cared about more than almost anyone else in the world and feeling _fear_. Up until a day ago, up until Noctis had filled that whole room in the cave with some sort of dimensional rip or a black hole or _something_ , Prompto had never thought of him as dangerous, as scary, as anything other than _Noctis_.

Truth be told, he _still_ didn't. Deep down, in his heart of hearts, he knew that Noctis was still Noctis, no matter what weird and outright scary mage powers he had.

Still, that didn't change what had happened. That didn't change the fact that Prompto had almost died—or whatever happened to all the things that got sucked into that massive hole—because of those powers for the first time. Up until that point, none of Noctis' magic had ever done anything but help Prompto; protect him from X or Y thing. Like the incident with the adamantoise that Noctis had just been talking about the day before. That had been exciting, but terrifying, and Noctis had used his magic to save Prompto that day.

Really, the whole situation back in the cave had been no different. Prompto had been in trouble, and Noctis had tried to save him multiple ways. Hell, Noctis had even been willing to bargain _himself_ to keep Prompto safe. That, more than anything, should have made it all make sense in Prompto's head. It should have made everything click into place and tell Prompto that Noctis would never hurt him. That he was still Noctis, even if he had a power that was a little less than pleasant.

In a way, it was. In a way, Prompto had wanted nothing more than to hop into one of Cid's cars right now, speed down the road, catch up to Noctis, and tell him that it was okay. He hadn't, though.

One night had passed since then. One sleepless night. Now, he sat at the table across from Cindy, looking at the garulessa meat sandwiches that she and Aranea had ordered from Takka's a little while ago. Usually, Prompto would've had a meal like this with Noctis yesterday, when they got back home from their adventure empty-handed as always. The fact that Noctis wasn't with him at the moment was taunting him. Telling him that he'd freaked out, that he might have lost the best friend he'd ever had. The best friend he'd ever _have_. Prompto sighed and picked up one of the fries that they'd ordered, not eating it right away. Instead, he poked at the top of the sandwich with the fry in his hand, moving the bread around and heaving a soft sigh.

"Gotta say," Aranea mused from where she leaned against the counter, eating her own sandwich, "the last time I ever saw you looking like that was when Loqi told you that you couldn't go see the chocobos."

A humorless laugh escaped Prompto's lips, and he looked up at Aranea, before finally eating the fry in his hand. Humming a negative answer, he looked back down at his plate. "Wish it was something like that," he admitted, before turning his head to glance back up at Aranea. "I don't even know how to explain what happened. A lot happened. And..." And none of it was good.

Cindy pulled her own sandwich over to her, grabbing a couple of fries and dipping them in her ketchup. "Well, usually when somethin' bad like that happens, yer always talkin' Noct's ear off about it. Why didn't you go to Insomnia today?" she asked, before putting her own fries in her mouth.

Sighing, Prompto pushed his plate away and looked up at Cindy. "It was... it's not like I didn't want to," he admitted. "A lot happened yesterday, Cin. Noct probably doesn't wanna see me, anyway."

There was an urging look on Cindy's face as she tried to get a good look at Prompto's expression. Sliding her chair over, she nudged Prompto with her elbow. "Well, why don't ya tell us about it? We heard ya tossin' and turnin' last night. Gettin' up a bunch. Like you couldn't sleep or somethin'. Musta been a pretty big deal. Ain't seen you have a sleepless night since before you met Noct," she pointed out.

That was true, actually. Most of his nights since they met in high school were spent in Noctis' house, on his couch, and somehow, just being in his friend's house made sleeping easier. Last night was hell. Prompto had tried to sleep, but all he could think about was the way the ground darkened; the way everything in the area had almost disappeared into a black hole. Worse than that, maybe, was the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about how Noctis had almost sacrificed himself to some group of psychos who wanted to run tests on him, just to keep Prompto safe. Why had he done that?

Prompto huffed. "Well, for one, Loqi gave us a really bad lead this time. Led us into another bandit camp. A bandit mining camp this time," he murmured, leaning his head sideways and resting it on his hand. "Meaner bandits than last time, too. Not like the ones that we just... y'know, obliterated over in the Vesperpool." In fact, this time, Prompto hadn't even been able to help at all.

"That bad, huh?"

Prompto turned to Aranea and nodded his head. "Worse than that bad. They wanted to..." He paused, sighed again, and then muttered, "they wanted to kill me, and then take Noct prisoner and make him into some kind of weird experiment, or something." Even saying the words right then left a sour taste in Prompto's mouth; made him sad. Noctis had been willing to submit himself to that for Prompto's safety, and Prompto still couldn't help but be scared of him. Or, no. Not scared of him. Scared of his power. That was just the thing. Prompto wasn't scared of Noctis. Prompto _knew_ Noctis. Some days, Prompto thought he knew Noctis better than he knew himself. Noctis was the type of person who would spend a whole day fishing just because he was bored. Who stopped in the middle of anything to pet a cat or feed it some of his own meal. Noctis _wasn't_ the type of person that Prompto would—could, even—ever be scared of.

Noctis' power, though? The warping, he'd seen a hundred thousand times. A million times. That was something he knew. Something he was familiar with.

Whatever had happened in that mining compound wasn't. It was something that he'd never seen before. Something that he never thought could come from someone like Noctis. Prompto sighed, shaking his head hard and looking up at Aranea and Cindy. "Noct was going to let them take him. He was going to let them do whatever they wanted as long as they let me go, but they said no. They were gonna kill me and take him anyway, and..." A part of him wasn't even sure how to explain what had happened. So much, but nothing that he really understood at all.

Well, for starters, "Noct saved me. Like he always does. But..." He trailed off, looking down at his plate again. "It wasn't like he always does, either. He used this power, guys. This power I've never seen before. It was like he was warping the area around us. Turning the ground into a giant abyss. And it took up the whole room and almost took us down with it."

Again, Prompto picked up a fry and popped it into his mouth to stop himself from talking. This wasn't really his story to tell, but at the same time, he really needed to tell someone. Aranea and Cindy were usually pretty good at leveling his head out, and if they couldn't do it, they always went to get Cid for him and Cid could do it. Or call Loqi in Lestallum to come over. How could they level his head out, though, when he was afraid of being around the one person he'd never thought it was possible for him to be afraid of?

Sighing again, Prompto drew an idle pattern in the ketchup on his plate with another fry. "I know he's a mage, and I know what he's capable of..." He paused, watching as Aranea stood up and walked out of the room without another word, then continued. "I know I shouldn't be scared of him, especially since he was so willing to put himself in danger to keep me safe. I know that. I just..."

"Can't help how you feel," Cindy finished for him, placing a hand on his arm. "I know, Prom. It's okay."

Prompto shook his head no. "It's not okay, though. He's not just some random person. Not someone I ever think would hurt me if he had the choice. He's Noct, Cindy. He's _Noct_. You know? But..." A pause, and he scratched his hands through his hair. "He couldn't stop it. He was trying. I could tell. His runes were glowing and his eyes were glowing and he was _trying_ to stop it but he couldn't. And if I'm so scared, I can only _imagine_ how bad he must feel. So..." So, it should have been easy to convince himself not to be scared.

It wasn't. That was bothering him more than anything else.

With a soft humming noise, Cindy flicked her eyes up to meet Prompto's. "Well, he stopped, didn't he?" she asked.

That was true, and Prompto nodded. "He did stop. He apologized to me, one of those real sad apologies like he knew that he was going to do something bad, but then after that, it just stopped and went away like it hadn't even been there to begin with." Before he hurt Prompto, too. Before he hurt himself.

Cindy shrugged. "So, he didn't hurt you," she pointed out.

Also true. Noctis hadn't hurt him, and Prompto still felt like he'd never _do_ it. Not on purpose. Still, Prompto couldn't help being afraid. It wasn't like being afraid was something that never happened to him before. As much as he loved adventure and excitement, as much as he loved all of the things that he and Noctis did together, he was a phobic idiot. Scared of spiders, the dark, being underground, heights... somehow all of those things never really seemed to scare him as much when he was with Noctis, because he'd faced them all a hundred thousand times while they did things together, and never once had he turned away.

Then, all of a sudden, the thing that made his fear easier was the thing that he was scared of. How was he supposed to feel right then? "I don't think he'd ever hurt me willingly," Prompto admitted. "Which just makes me feel worse. 'Cause, I _know_ it's true, but I'm still..."

Cindy frowned. "I think y'all need to talk, honestly. Don't think you should've let 'im walk home last night, Prom. We both know how hard Noct is on himself," she reminded him, her lips curled down into a serious frown. "I know you were scared, and you had every right to be. Still do have every right to be. But if you're feelin' like this..." She trailed off, glancing off toward Insomnia, in the direction Noctis had taken off in.

If Prompto was feeling like this, then he could only imagine how Noctis was feeling. Noctis was already scared of himself. He already kept himself closed away from other people. The giant mansion that Noctis' dad had left to him when he died was decked out to further convince people that he was a vampire, to keep them away. Prompto knew for a fact that teenagers broke in sometimes, especially on or around Halloween. He made himself seem like something to be afraid of, to keep people at an arm's length. Not Prompto, though. Never Prompto.

And here Prompto was, scared of him because of some accident.

Blinking, Prompto looked up at Cindy. "He must be feeling worse. D-do you think he's okay?" he asked.

Before she could answer, though, a familiar voice came from the doorway. "So, 'Nea tells me that you finally saw the other part of Noct's magic?" Cid asked as he slowly made his way across the room and came to a stop at the table. Cindy's grandfather was just like Prompto's own grandfather, and had been since Prompto and Loqi had moved in with the man half a decade ago. He reached over to Prompto's plate, gathering a couple of fries and dipping them in the ketchup, before eating them himself.

Prompto simply blinked. 'The other side of Noct's magic,' Cid had said. Did that mean that he knew about it, too?

With a huff of a sigh, Cid lifted his goggles from his face and let them come to rest on top of his head. "Yeah, I knew about it. Known the kid since he was little, actually. 'Fore I even knew you and your brother were alive. Noct's old man and me go way back. Used to adventure together just like you an' Noct do now," he explained, turning to glance at Cindy.

"I didn't know that, Paw Paw," Cindy mused.

Chuckling, Cid shook his head no. "Don't talk about it much nowadays. Ain't the same since Reggie died. Reggie's Noct's old man. M'sure you know that, Prom," he spoke nonchalantly, before glancing up at Aranea. "'Nea, wanna get me one'a them pops from the cooler? And my lunch? Didn't take a break earlier and it's catchin' up to me." He stretched his back a little bit.

Prompto couldn't help but huff a gentle laugh at the grease stains all over his uniform. "So, you and Noct's dad were treasure hunters?" he asked.

Cid nodded. "Weren't nothin' quite so fanciful, though," he excused. "Weren't just us, either. Wesk, Clarus, and Cor, too-"

"Wait. _Cor_?!" Prompto asked.

Of all the people he would have ever expected to treasure hunt, Cor Leonis—the man he considered to be his father—was among the last. Not because Cor wasn't brave or strong or anything like that. Actually, Cor was one of the bravest and strongest people that Prompto knew. He was always so serious, though. So professional and so business-first. To think that he'd ever been a treasure hunter, to think that he was the type of person who'd traveled to the furthest reaches of Eos in search of fortune like Prompto and Noctis did now? That was a shock. That was _more_ than a shock, actually.

With a fond chuckle, Cid continued. "'Course he was. Tagged along with us like a lost damn puppy, no matter how many times we tried to get rid of 'im at first. Proved himself useful when he saved Reggie from a couple mage hunters, though," he mused.

Prompto tilted his head to the side. "Noct's dad was a mage, too?" he asked.

Nodding, Cid frowned. "Yeah. Most'a the time, that stuff's passed down like that," he explained. "Reggie was pretty strong. He could warp like Noct can, but he could also conjure fire outta pretty much nowhere and burn bandits and baddies into ashes in _seconds_. No surprise Noct has so much power."

Well, that did make sense. Prompto glanced down at the table. If Noctis' dad was so powerful, then why did Noctis have such a hard time controlling that power? He raked his teeth over his lower lip and then looked up at Cid. There was more to his story, Prompto could tell. He was making one of those faces that pretty much broadcast the fact that he was saying something without saying it, and Prompto had to wonder exactly what it was. All of the years that he spent around the man, and he still hadn't learned all the intricacies about looks like that. Cindy seemed to know it, too, but she looked as lost as Prompto did.

It was Aranea who finally asked, and her question told Prompto exactly what Cid was thinking. "How'd Noct's dad die?" she asked.

Cid sighed. He popped the top to the soda that Cindy brought him, took a slow sip, turned to Aranea, and answered, "it's a cryin' shame, really. And explains a lot about why Noct's the way he is." He turned to look at Prompto with a pointed look on his face when he continued his story. "When Noct was real little, his mom died protecting Noct and Reggie from mage hunters. As she was dyin', she made Reggie promise to make sure that Noct knew how to harness and control his powers to protect himself. Well, Reggie wasn't the type to make a promise an' not keep it, so he started trainin' Noct as soon as he showed the first sign of them runes glowin'."

It didn't make sense. If Noctis had been trained by a mage as strong as his father apparently was, then there was no way that he was 'weak,' or 'untrained,' was there? Prompto arched an eyebrow and looked at Cid in question, asking him without saying it to continue the story.

After another sip from the soda can, he explained, "Noct took to warpin' like a pro," with a soft chuckle on his lips. "Could warp farther than even Reggie could, and you'd better believe that me an' Cor an' Wesk an' Clarus gave him no end of business for that." The smirk on his face grew a little bit more. "When a teenager beats you at your strongest skill an' you've been practicin' it for ages like Reggie had? Somethin' worth teasin' there, I think." He turned to look at Prompto. "The problem was with his other power. I'd wager it's the one you saw, Prom. The black hole?"

All Prompto could do was nod in response.

"Thought so. Noct couldn't control that. He tried. Tried real hard. Some days were better'n others. He'd make a small black hole under a dummy that Reggie'd make outta bandit clothes and trash bags." Again, Cid laughed fondly as he pulled his goggles from his head and ran a hand through his thinning hair. "Every time Noct made progress, Reggie'd up his trainin' a bit, an' take him to a wider area to have him work on fillin' it up. That's what brought 'em to a mine over by Malmalam Thicket. Noct was doin' real well. Makin big holes and then makin' 'em disappear like he'd been trainin' to his whole life, bless his heart. Reggie said he would've been ready to join us in our huntin' activities real soon. Wasn't so sure about that m'self, but I wasn't gonna doubt a dad's judgment about his son."

Prompto clamped down on his lower lip. Somehow, he had a feeling that he knew where this was going, and he felt a sinking feeling of sadness in the pit of his stomach. "What happened?" he asked.

Cid puffed a breath out through pursed lips and looked Prompto square in the eye. "From all of Noct's retellin' the story, he doesn't know how it got as bad as it did," he explained. "He was doin' fine, and Reggie, with his dyin' breath, told us that it wasn't Noct's fault. Tried to tell us what made it happen, but he was just barely clingin' to life by the time we got there. Only managed to cling as long as he did, I think, so Noct wouldn't be alone an' scared in a damn mine." He frowned. "The black hole went crazy, and would've swallowed Noct and Reggie down with it, if Reggie hadn't had the mental capacity to climb 'em up this giant piece of rock that was attached to both the floor and the ceilin'. Problem was, when he finally _did_ get some kinda control over the black hole, the tendrils went haywire and knocked the rock down."

"Reggie was pinned; crushed from his legs to his ribs." It was obvious that this was tough for Cid to remember, if the way he'd folded his hands on the table and was staring at them was any indication. "If we'd got there quicker, there might've been something more we could've done, but it's quite a ways between Hammerhead and the thicket." Sighing sadly, he shrugged.

Prompto frowned. And that was how Noctis' dad had died. Thinking back on it, it made perfect sense. The way that Noctis always wanted to keep people at a distance, it wasn't because he didn't _like_ people. Prompto knew that for sure. Noctis loved people; he loved to people watch when they were walking around Insomnia together, and he loved meeting new people whenever one of their adventures chanced to bring them to a town. Prompto had never really thought that Noctis didn't _like_ people. The fear of being around them, though, was obviously because of this whole situation with his dad.

Confirming his thoughts, Cid continued. "Noct was never the same after that," he explained. "Well, he was the same. He _is_ the same. He's just... not as outgoing or eager to be around people as he used to be. You know how he is, Prom. You're around him more than the rest of us are."

With a nod, Aranea added, "the only one he really lets in," from where she stood across the room. "We've all forced our way in, 'cause the kid can't be alone. Shouldn't be alone just 'cause he never really learned to control himself and made a mistake. You know?"

Of course Prompto knew. When he'd been learning to shoot—when his biological dad had forced him to train him to be whatever he'd initially wanted Prompto and Loqi to be—they'd always done it in places that were so far away from people that the only one Prompto was at risk of hurting was himself. Noctis, though... Noctis didn't really have that luxury. Magic was something that he could only really learn from another mage, and the only other mage around to teach him things like that back then was his dad. Well, there was Luna, too, but Luna was only a couple of years older than he was. A teenager back then, too.

"So, he's never... he never learned to..." Prompto trailed off. He didn't need to finish. They knew where he was going.

Cid shook his head no. "He swore that he'd never use the black hole power again, unless he didn't have a choice. Not sure why he wanted to use it back there with you, but obviously thought he didn't have a choice."

Prompto knew why. He swallowed thickly and looked down at the table, at his food. Suddenly, he wasn't hungry anymore. "He was trying to protect me." And truth be told, while the power _had_ gone haywire? He hadn't _hurt_ Prompto. If he was trying to _protect_ Prompto, then he'd obviously succeeded. If Prompto knew anything about Noctis at all, he knew that Noctis would never purposely hurt him.

So, why in the hell was he sitting here, then? Why had he allowed himself to think, for even a second, that Noctis would purposely hurt him? Or even _accidentally_ hurt him? "I fucked up, didn't I?"

A warm hand clasped around his shoulder, and when he turned his head, he saw Cindy looking at him and shaking her head no. "I don't think any of us see it that way, Prom. I _definitely_ don't think Noct does. He knows how scary mage power can be," she insisted. "I don't think he thinks you messed up." She gave him a comforting smile.

While Prompto wanted to be comforted by it, he couldn't. Of course Noct wouldn't see it that way. Noct was too hard on himself about stuff like this. He probably thought of himself as even more dangerous now, and all Prompto had done was make it worse. He looked across the table at Cid, swallowed nervously, and then asked, "Cid? Can I borrow a car for the night? I've gotta go to Insomnia..."

Cid chuckled a soft note. "The car you took yesterday's still out in the lot, kid. Never moved it, 'cause I was pretty sure you'd come to your senses eventually." He nodded his chin upward at Prompto.

"Can't believe I ever lost 'em. Noct would... he'd never let himself hurt me," Prompto muttered under his breath.

Silence filled the room, and then Cid held his index finger up to stop Prompto. "You gotta be careful with this, alright? Whatever happened back there, Noct's not gonna wanna let you in like he usually does. You might have to force your way in." He huffed a soft chuckle, then glanced back down at his plate thoughtfully. "Right after Reggie died, right before he met you, he had this habit of lockin' himself up in his room. Wesk would stay at his house with 'im, just to make sure he was eatin', but it wasn't always easy. You might have your work cut out for you, Prom."

Prompto couldn't help but frown. "Do... do you think he'll even let me in?" he asked.

With a chuckle, Cid nodded his head. "Pretty sure you're the only one who _can_ get through to him, honestly. You're gonna need to be determined, though. If he doesn't let you in? You sit there and you talk to him through the door. Ain't like you don't got a key to his front door, right?" Cid asked.

That was true. Noctis had given him a key a few weeks after they'd become friends, really. Before Prompto was even old enough to go anywhere on his own, he'd had a key to get into Noctis' house. It wasn't exactly an uncommon thing, Prompto was sure. He knew that Ignis had one, and so did Gladio and Iris and Luna. A few other people who were all a part of their inner circle, but lived spread throughout Eos. Prompto's probably just got the most use, because of the fact that they were always together. At the thought of the key, Prompto patted the pocket on his shirt that he always kept it in, then nodded eagerly in response to Cid's question when he felt the familiar bump of the key in his pocket.

"Good. You'll probably have to use that. Want you to promise me you won't leave his place until you figure out a way to get him to come with you, though. Won't be easy, but-"

Prompto didn't need to be pushed, didn't need to be told to do that. "I was planning on it anyway. Gonna go to my room and pack an overnight bag. Maybe two nights, if I've gotta. I'll crash on the couch and be there whenever he decides to come out." Because there was no way in hell that he was going to let Noct shell in on himself just because of some mistake that wasn't even really his fault.

It seemed like Aranea and Cindy were both surprised by the sudden change in his mindset, but it wasn't really sudden at all, honestly. Prompto turned to them, saying a quick goodbye to each of the three of them, before rushing out of the kitchen and heading toward his room in the apartment he shared with Cid, Cindy, and Aranea.

Most of what he packed were things that he could use to entertain himself, just in case it took Noctis awhile to come to his senses. A project that he'd been working on—a pair of short wave radios for the pair of them to use when they went out adventuring together—as well as a couple of comic books. He grabbed his camera, a whole album of pictures, and then a _second_ album that was dedicated to pictures of things that he'd done with Noctis. Other adventures they'd been on. The one in the Vesperpool, the one in Caem, the one in Accordo... Gods. All he could think as he packed the second photo album was that they really _had_ been everywhere together. They really _had_ been through everything. How could Prompto have thought, even for a second, that he had any reason to be scared of Noctis?

Suddenly, he was angrier at himself than he'd ever been before.

As he picked out a couple of outfits, then grabbed a couple of little gadgets that he'd been working on, and a pouch of Cid's powdered stone, he turned on his heel to rush out of the apartment and down to the car. Fishing the keys from his pocket, he sat down, turned his head toward where Cid, Cindy, and Aranea stood outside the apartment and watched him as he started the car. He owed them gratitude, of course, but he could thank them later.

Insomnia wasn't far, at least not by car. Prompto would probably get to Noctis' place a _lot_ faster than Noctis had the night before. A flash of guilt rose up. How had he ever let Noctis leave on his own like that? Especially knowing that there was a chance that mage hunters were after him. Hadn't that Lazarus guy said that he was calling his boss? It wasn't like Noctis left some kind of trail to his house or anything, but Prompto _also_ knew that mage hunters had been dogging Noctis for the better part of his adult life. Even if the hunters sent by Lazarus and his boss hadn't managed to catch up to Noctis, that didn't mean that _others_ hadn't.

The thought had him practically peeling out of Hammerhead, kicking up a massive cloud of dust in his wake as he left the town behind. Driving on the dunes was always messy like that, and Prompto normally would have cared at least a little bit. He was pretty sure that even Cid couldn't be mad. Not knowing how important his mission was. He'd apologize later. Right now, he had _another_ apology to make.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 15,000 words into nano, and I guarantee you're all sick of seeing my name in the AO3 Promptis page. XD
> 
> Sorry, my dudes.


	4. Repair

The first sign that something was wrong was the fact that, when Prompto pulled into Noctis' yard, there were three cars parked in his driveway. Unfamiliar cars. Prompto didn't claim to know what all of their friends' cars looked like from memory. He didn't even really know makes and models of _most_ cars, beyond what Cid and Cindy had taught him over the years. None of these cars looked _remotely_ familiar, though. Chances were high, if it was Ignis or Gladio, it would have been Gladio's airship parked somewhere on the small stretch of land atop the hill that Noctis lived. So, that was out. The only thing about any of them that looked somewhat familiar was the fact that each and every one had a mage hunter sticker on the back.

Mage hunter signs were unmistakable. Not every one was the same, but they all had one common factor, and that was the fact that, around or through something that looked like magic, was some kind of weapon. These each had a magic ball of flame, with a pair of swords crashing through it. It was definitely a mage hunter sticker, and at the very _sight_ of it, Prompto's heart sank out through his stomach.

In recent memory, even when he was running out of the cave back in the grasslands, Prompto didn't recall moving as quickly as he had to get to Noctis' door. As he fumbled in one pocket for his keys, the other hand went down to the doorknob, only to see that it was unlocked already. The hand that had searched for his keys fell down to his side and a feeling of dread bubbled in his gut. For a house that was potentially full of mage hunters—a house that a mage called home—it was really, really quiet in there. Noctis' house was always quiet when he was home alone, but not this quiet. Sometimes, there was music from Noctis' gramophone. Sometimes, the television that his dad had left to him played static at night when he'd fallen asleep on the couch and the day's broadcasts were over.

There was none of that. It almost had Prompto fearing opening the door. Almost, but not quite. If there _was_ someone in Noctis' house—multiple someones—Prompto had to do something. He couldn't let his dread win out and not help his best friend when he was in need. So, swallowing a lump in his throat, he pressed his ear a little bit tighter to the door as he twisted the knob and opened it.

Still, no sound. It was frighteningly quiet in here, actually. The old grandfather clock—another thing that Noctis' dad had left behind for him—ticked on the wall, and that was the only sound that Prompto could really hear. His hands fumbled around on the right side of the front door for the light switch. Noctis' lights were dim, but he kept them bright enough for Prompto to be able to see, even without his glasses or his goggles, or any type of help to see. When the lights came on and the room lit up, though... the sinking feeling only increased.

Noctis wasn't exactly a neat freak. When Ignis came over, he would always gripe and grouse about the fact that Noctis didn't tidy his house up at _all_. Prompto would usually take it upon himself to clean up a little bit. Straighten things that needed straightening and do Noctis' dishes when his friend wasn't feeling particularly motivated to do so. This, though, even for Noctis, seemed to be a bit much.

In fact, it looked like the site of a long fought battle.

The coffee table was turned up on its side, all of the things that Noctis usually _kept_ on the coffee table were strewn across the floor. The couch had a couple of tears on it, and the recliner that Noctis preferred to use was riddled with bullet holes. Well, maybe riddled was a stretch. There were only a couple. It would _probably_ be easy enough for one of their friends who had any skill with such things to repair. The TV stand was tipped over and Noctis' TV was face down on the ground, the antenna on the floor and broken a few feet away. Several of the shelves, home to Noctis' photos—the dozens of photos that Prompto had given to him, among others—were scattered on the floor as well. A window in the corner was cracked.

Still, there were no signs of any people. No one who could possibly have owned the cars outside, but more troubling than that was the fact that there was no sign of Noctis whatsoever. It was only the foyer and the living room, though. The house was massive. There were plenty of other places Noctis could possibly be. Plenty of other places for a mage hunter to hide.

Prompto set his bag down next to the door, gathering his pistols from his belt as he slowly made his way across the room. Bits of glass from pictures and trinkets crunched under his feet, and he almost tripped twice over broken pieces of wood that had split off from tables or chairs or shelves that had been knocked down. In fact, he _did_ trip once. Over the easel that, for years, he'd watched Noctis draw and paint and sketch on. Its legs were snapped to the point that they were almost broken, and that made Prompto unreasonably sad. It was just a thing. Not really important. All he could think of, though, was back when they were fresh out of school. Noctis would get into a drawing zone, Prompto would stand across the room and take sneaky pictures of Noctis while he drew, and Noctis would pretend to be mad at him for it.

It made him feel a little bit worse, at the moment, because of how willing he'd been to believe that Noctis was something to be afraid of. That person... the person who he'd spent a hundred million late nights just hanging around with, would never hurt him. He'd never hurt _anyone_ who didn't deserve it. Even though Prompto needed to _find_ Noctis, he couldn't resist the urge to lean down, pick the easel up, and set it back where he knew it was supposed to go. Back against the wall, next to Noctis' massive bureau full of art supplies, which had also been knocked down on its front.

Prompto put himself back on track now, looking where he was walking a little more carefully as he headed to the kitchen. When he opened the door to Noctis' kitchen, it was just more of the same. Broken plates, pots and pans, the countertop had a couple of bullet holes in it, as did the window. There was a streak of blood across the floor, too, which made Prompto's panic spike a little bit higher.

This was like something out of one of the horror movies that he and Noctis always went to see together around Halloween. Prompto turned on his heel, checked all of the other rooms on the ground floor as he passed them—more of the same; broken furniture and bullet holes, a couple of spots of blood on the floor—before moving to the stairs to rush up them. If Noctis was anywhere, Prompto was reasonably sure that he'd be in his bedroom. Whenever something went wrong, Noctis always retreated to his bedroom. If he was there, he might have been hurt, and that meant that Prompto needed to be there to take care of him.

Even so, he still had his guns at the ready. Who knew if any of the mage hunters were still around? If they were, Prompto wondered why they hadn't shown themselves to try and kill him, but he absolutely wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth either.

When Prompto reached the top floor, and the hallway that led to Noctis' bedroom, all he could do was blink. Unless he'd gone completely insane, Prompto remembered a whole bunch of decorative furniture in this hallway. Shelves, drawers, tables, pictures... some of the pictures still remained. They were cracked or broken, but they were still there. As was the mirror at the end of the hallway that, one night, he and Noctis had spent almost an hour making silly faces into and taking pictures of those silly faces. Okay, so what about the rest of the furniture?

He rushed down the hall to get to Noctis' bedroom door, which was closed. Prompto reached down, turning the knob a couple of times and listening to the rattling. Locked. Prompto clenched his jaw and closed his fists tightly, before glancing over at the electronic lock that Noctis used to keep mage hunters from being able to get to him when he was asleep. Prompto knew the passcode. At least he _usually_ knew the passcode. Who knew if it was still the same one? Leaning over, he typed in the same one that he remembered Noctis giving to him, the one he'd used to get into the room all these years. When the code came up red, he pursed his lips.

Of course Noctis would change it. Why wouldn't he? Prompto hadn't exactly been the best friend to him. More guilt sprang up, as he reached a hand up to knock on the door. Probably should have started with that, he chastised himself as his knuckles made contact with the wood.

"G'way, hunters. You're not getting in here," Noctis' voice came, labored and angry, through the door.

What in the hell had happened here? Prompto frowned, leaning forward and murmuring against the door, "Noct? It's me. Not the hunters." One hand pressed against the wood, and the other came down to make contact with the doorknob again. "I can't get in. The code's not the same."

Silence. Silence for a _long_ time. Prompto frowned. "Noct?" he called.

Noctis' voice was quiet again, when he answered. "I know. I changed it," he muttered in a slightly quieter tone. "What're you doing here, Prom? You should-"

Prompto sighed, remembering what Cid told him. He'd have to push. He leaned against the wall next to the door, shook his head—like Noctis could even see it—and then interrupted Noctis before he could finish. "M'not going anywhere, Noct. You should just open the door. Or don't. I'm..." he paused, "I'm staying."

Silence again. He could hear movement on the other side of the door, and for a minute, he thought that maybe Noctis was going to open it. He didn't. Instead, Prompto felt a sudden shaking in the floor beneath his feet, and then heard a dull thud against the door. Panic rose up, making him wonder if maybe Noctis had passed out or something, but after a couple of seconds, he heard Noctis' voice again. "Dunno why, after what happened yesterday," Noctis answered, from closer this time. Like he was right on the other side of the door.

For a second, Prompto allowed himself to ask why Noctis hadn't opened the door, but at the same time, he knew. He knew full well, actually. After what had happened, after Prompto hadn't spoken to him for the whole of the ride home... after Prompto had freaked out? Why _would_ Noctis open the door? Sighing softly, Prompto turned his back to the door, sitting on the floor and leaning back. It was weird, in a way, but he could almost _feel_ Noctis' warmth on the other side. He knew that it wasn't possible, that it was probably a little bit weird to even think that, but it almost felt that way.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," Prompto murmured, leaning his head back against the door. "I didn't... I shouldn't-"

A gentle hum came from the other side of the door. "Don't," Noctis mumbled. "You don't have anything to apologize for, Prom. I... it's about time you saw me for what I am, y'know? I just... I always kinda hoped you wouldn't, but I know now how stupid it was. There's no way I'd be able to hide it from you forever, y'know? It's... it's not like you were wrong. To feel like you did, I mean." Prompto felt a little bit of thudding pressure against the back of his head, against the door, like Noctis had just let his head fall back or something.

Sighing, Prompto answered, "but I was." Again, he fell silent, looking out through Noctis' empty hallway. The way the furniture was missing suggested that maybe he'd used that power again. That the mage hunters ended up in that same black hole that the bandits had back in the mine. Prompto still didn't know if they were dead or if they were just transported somewhere or _what_ happened to them, but he did know that it had saved Noctis twice, and Prompto once.

On the other side of the door, Noctis shuffled a little bit, and Prompto had to wonder if he was okay. Before he got the chance to ask, Noctis spoke up again. "You really weren't," he insisted. "I know you've always wondered why I keep people at arm's length, but... you know now. You know? I'm... it's not like I-"

"I know."

Noctis grunted. "You don't though." He hissed. "Fuck. Damn it. S-sorry. I..." Again, he fell back hard against the door, like he was trying to relax a little bit but failing.

It made Prompto think of the blood on the floor downstairs, and made him worry all over again. "Noct... what happened?" he asked. "Not with the power. I know, kinda, what happened there. I mean here. There's three cars outside your place and the place looks like a damn hurricane ripped through it. Were there hunters?" A stupid question. Prompto was already pretty sure of the answer, honestly.

The hum that came from the other side of the door was a yes answer. Noctis slid against the door again—Prompto could feel the vibrations on his side—and then answered aloud. "About six," he answered. "Almost didn't fight 'em."

Prompto frowned. That was... not what he was hoping to hear in the slightest. "But you did. I can tell, because there's pretty much nothing in this hallway right now." There was the slightest hint of amusement in his tone. Just a little bit. Nothing about the situation was amusing at all. Not Noctis facing mage hunters, not the fact that Noctis felt like he had to hide behind the door because Prompto had made his stupid mistake, not the fact that they were even going through this to _begin_ with. None of _that_ was amusing. The only thing that was mildly amusing was the fact that Noctis was powerful enough to clear the hallway out.

A humorless laugh came muffled through the door, and Noctis answered, "yeah, I did. Promised my dad a long time ago that I'd always fight back against mage hunters," in a sad and soft voice. "Plus, I probably would've anyway. My dad dealt with those assholes all his life. Kinda feel like I owe it to him." His tone was conversational, but there was something a little bit different about it, too. Not his normal tone.

His dad. Prompto frowned. "Cid told me about your dad, by the way," he told Noctis.

"O-oh. What, um... what'd he say?" Noctis' tone was nervous, and Prompto could feel him moving just slightly against the door.

Swallowing nervously, Prompto looked down at his hands. "A few things," he explained, idly fiddling with one of the buckles on his shirt. "How he used to be a treasure hunter like we are. How he hunted with Cid and Clarus, and how apparently _Cor_ was a freakin' treasure hunter, too. Never would've seen that one coming." He tapped his thumbs together, then glanced up at the wall, where one of the unharmed photos was of Noctis and his dad.

Noctis laughed. "Yeah. Cor wasn't always a stick in the mud. Back before he found you and your brother, he actually used to be crazier than Cid says we are. Dad told me once that he climbed all the way to the top of the clock tower in Tenebrae, just to get a good look at the city and see if he could find some kind of tomb that my dad and Clarus were looking for." Again, he laughed, but it wasn't quite his normal laughter. It was tinged with sadness, definitely, but there was something else there, too.

It was a little bit saddening that Prompto didn't dare ask right away. Instead—and not as though it was a better topic of conversation—he breathed in slowly through his nose, let it out in a steady stream, and then told Noctis, "he also told me how he died. About Malmalam Thicket and the giant rock..."

"How I killed him, you mean...?" Noctis asked. All humor, all pleasantness, was gone from his tone now. Of course it was.

Prompto shifted a little bit, so that he was leaning sideways against the door. "You didn't kill him, though," he insisted. "Accidents happen. You didn't kill him, just like you didn't kill me back in that mine, Noct. I was gonna say you haven't killed anyone, but I know of a bunch of mage hunters and bandits who'd probably disagree with that, so instead, I'll say that you've never killed anyone who didn't deserve it." He swallowed nervously, and before Noctis could even think to argue, he continued talking. "I freaked out. I shouldn't have freaked out, but I did. I know you'd never hurt me on purpose. I know you'd never..."

In a quiet voice, from the other side of the door, Noctis agreed. "Never," he spoke in a voice that was just a touch above a whisper.

Another nervous lump formed in Prompto's throat and he swallowed it back, leaning his head sideways against the door. "I'm sorry I didn't realize it, Noct. I want to say that I know how hard it was for you to deal with what happened yesterday, but I don't. I don't have any idea how hard it was. I just... I... can you please let me in?"

There was no response.

"You have every right to be mad. You really do. I deserve it. I deserve _more_ than it, honestly, because I know you better than to think you're some kind of scary mage. N-not that I think all mages are scary, or _any_ mage is born scary or anything. I know that mages are people, that you're a person. I know that. And I know you. I know you better than I know myself, Noct. I know that you're not... that you're you. That it doesn't matter what power you have, what you can do. That you're _still_ you and that I should be scared of a damn bunny rabbit or a newborn kitten or a chocobo sooner than I should be scared of you. Please let me in, Noct."

More silence followed, and Prompto was about to call it quits for now, go down the stairs and start cleaning up after the mess that the hunters made when they went after Noctis, when he heard, Noctis speak in a low mumble. "1-0-2-5."

Prompto blinked, looking up at the keypad next to Noctis' bedroom door. 1-0-2-5. The key code was... "my birthday?" he asked as he pushed himself up from the floor, to his knees, and then to his feet.

"Yeah," Noctis mumbled from the other side of the door, and then Prompto heard a pained hiss as shuffling came from the other side. "Changed it last night. I thought, y'know... it'd be a way to remember how good a team we were. J-just in case—fuck—just in case I never saw you again."

As much as Prompto wanted to be able to smile at that, he was worried about the hissing and grunting sounds he heard coming from the other side of the door. Was Noctis hurt somehow? It made sense, in a depressing way, for him to be hurt. Six hunters, and he'd fought them off on his own. So... why had he locked himself in his room, instead of going to the hospital? Prompto found himself mulling over the questions as he stepped up to the keypad. One of his gloves came off so that he could push the buttons easier, and he quickly entered the code into the lock. "I was gonna pick the lock if you didn't open-"

The second he saw Noctis, though, all words died on his lips. All thoughts died in his head, aside from one. Noctis was hurt. It didn't look life-threatening or anything, but it looked like, between whenever it had happened and now, Noctis had lost a _lot_ of blood. He'd tried to clean it himself, and dress it himself. Prompto could tell from the pile of bloody bandages on the floor. And as far as Prompto could see, it looked _okay_. It was covered, even though the bandages were on top of his shirt, and still a little bit bloody, and it wasn't like it was soaking completely through them, but... it was still a mess.

"Noct, what-"

Noctis tried to be nonchalant as he sat back on the bed. "One of the hunters got me with a throwing dagger," he explained. "It was a grazing shot when I was trying to find cover, but it... it bled a lot. I had trouble getting it to stop, and-" He paused, glancing down at the bloody mess that was the bandage on his side- "and it looks like I still didn't. It's... I'm fine." Looking up at Prompto, he blinked a couple of times, swallowed, and then looked down at his knees.

Fine. Prompto had to laugh at that. "You're not fine, actually," he disagreed, crossing the floor in a few sweeping steps and crouching down in front of Noctis. "Why'd you bandage it over your clothes?"

"Couldn't really take my shirt off. Every time I lifted my arm, it'd open up a little bit more, and I didn't want to bleed any more than I already had." A hand went down to touch the top of the bandages, and then Noctis turned to look at Prompto. "I'll be alright, though. I don't... you don't have to worry. Okay?" Noctis attempted to smile, like he was trying to ease Prompto's guilt.

All it really did was make him feel guiltier, though. He sighed sadly and took a couple of steps forward. "I can-"

Noctis shook his head no, though, raising his hand and stopping Prompto in his tracks. "N-no," he shook his head. "You shouldn't. I don't... you shouldn't want to be close to me, Prom. I almost..." He faltered, swallowing thickly, and then lowering his eyes again, pulling them away from Prompto's gaze. "I'm not safe. You can't pretend you weren't scared of what happened... _I'm_ scared of what happened." The frustration in his eyes was obvious.

Frowning, Prompto didn't let the hand in the air stop him from crossing the room and crouching down in front of Noctis where he sat on his bed. "That's stupid," he insisted. And he was fully aware of how stark a contrast it was to what he'd been saying, or not saying, the day before. "I'm not scared of you." Raising his head, tilting it just slightly and forcing his way into Noctis' vision, he placed a hand on top of one of Noctis'. "I don't think I was even scared of you yesterday. I was thinking about this earlier. It wasn't you that I was scared of." Without even asking for permission, he leaned forward a little ways and grabbed at where Noctis had fastened the bandage behind his back.

"It was the situation I was scared of. Everything that was happening. There was... there was a lot happening."

With a huff of humorless laughter and a hiss of pain, Noctis leaned forward just slightly to let Prompto unfasten the bandage. "I was scared of the situation, too," he told Prompto. "I was scared that I couldn't control myself, scared that they were going to hurt you. Scared that... _I_ was going to hurt you. If I hurt you, Prom-"

Prompto interrupted him, shaking his head no and flashing him a halfhearted smile. "You didn't hurt me," he reminded Noctis again. "Hell... you almost gave yourself away to some crazy assholes to keep _them_ from hurting me. Remember? If you... if _that_..." He swallowed a lump in his throat again, urging Noctis gently to lift his arms and let Prompto unwind the bandage from around his middle. Only when Noctis did, did Prompto continue. "If that tells me anything, it's that you'd... you'd do anything to keep me from being hurt."

"I would," Noctis insisted. "Anything."

There was a softness to Noctis' tone that Prompto didn't recognize. It probably should have been weird, but it wasn't. It was almost... nice. The bandages were almost completely unwound now, and Prompto frowned at the amount of blood that had soaked through them. "Well, you should know that I don't want... I really don't want you to do something like that. If you... I would do anything to keep _you_ from being hurt too, you know? You're my best friend. S-so..." He trailed off, then tilted his head to meet Noctis' eyes.

In the silence that followed, the teasing words that Nyx and Gladio always threw their way bounced around his head. Nyx would tease them all the time when the pair of them went to Luna's bar, about how they were essentially attached at the hip, and make jokes about how they may as well get married with how much time they spent together. They were gentle teases. Tame compared to Gladio and the way that he asked Prompto, every time his airship landed in Hammerhead or Prompto happened by where they were currently doing their pirate thing, if he and Noctis had 'fucked yet.'

It wasn't like it was an _offensive_ question, it was like the thought of him and Noctis sleeping together was an offensive suggestion either. Noctis was attractive. Prompto had been attracted to him for a long time. That attraction had developed even before their friendship had, honestly. Since then, the friendship and physical attraction had formed into something of a crush. It was weird, though, and not something Prompto would ever really _act_ on. Noctis was his best friend, and he was pretty sure that Noctis had never thought of _him_ that way, so... no way would he ever do anything about it himself, either. The only thing he hated about it was was the way that Gladio always seemed to make a show of asking. Trying to make Prompto feel awkward, when he did a good enough job of that on his own. Ignis always chastised him for it, and so did Iris, but it was one of those things. Gladio wouldn't stop. It was just the way he was.

Noctis had never noticed it. Or, if he had, he'd never said anything. He still wasn't, even when Prompto's gaze lingered on Noctis' for a little bit longer than it probably should have. Prompto cleared his throat, finishing unwrapping the bandage and then clamping down on his lower lip. "You're, um... probably gonna need to take your shirt off. So, I can re-wrap it."

That, too, was going to be a new line. Something they'd never done before. Prompto knew that because of Noctis' runes, people seeing his bare flesh was a little bit of an insecurity for him. Prompto got that, too. To a degree, anyway. He had some stretchmarks from when he was a chubby kid, and a weird looking bar code tattoo on his wrist—the origin of which he had _no clue_ about—so he wasn't really fond of anyone seeing him without his shirt or his gloves on, either. Noctis knew about the wrist tattoo, but he was pretty sure, unless Loqi had run his mouth or something, that there was no way Noctis could have known about the stretchmarks. The hesitance on his friend's face was reasonable. Prompto got it.

"You can just lift it instead, but... that might be harder."

With a slow shake of his head, Noctis glanced down at his shirt. "N-no. I... it's okay." He didn't look up, didn't meet Prompto's eye again, as he lifted his arms and hissed at the way it probably tugged at the torn skin. Prompto could see the tearing in the shirt, too, and that was probably rubbing against the cut.

Prompto stopped him before his hands got to the buttons, shaking his head. "I'll do it," he offered, his voice a little shakier than he wanted it to be. "You'll hurt yourself more. Just... just keep your arm out, okay? So you don't touch it." He lifted Noctis' arm just slightly, so that it wasn't near his side anymore, and then leaned forward to work the buttons to his vest open. It was something that Prompto didn't consider very often, how all the layers of clothing that Noctis wore were probably some kind of precaution to hide his runes. They did well that day in the mine. The only ones that Prompto had been able to see were the only ones that he could see right then; the ones on his hands.

"I'm sorry," Noctis murmured under his breath.

With a shake of his head as he pushed the vest over Noctis' shoulders and down to the bed behind Noctis' back, Prompto smiled weakly—nervously—at Noctis. It was a necessity, sure, but there was something alarmingly intimate about this. Or maybe it wasn't _that_ alarming. They were on Noctis' bed, and Prompto was undressing him. That was pretty obvious in how intimate it was. "Nothing to be sorry for," Prompto answered, instead of calling attention to any of those thoughts as they manifested in his head.

Prompto tugged up, untucking Noctis' undershirt from his pants, and then starting to work the buttons to that open. Admittedly, after the first two buttons opened, he found himself a little bit distracted. Noctis' runes were noticeable on his hands, but there, they just looked like little accents. At least until they lit up. Every bit of Noctis' chest that Prompto revealed with a new button was sprinkled with them. Almost like Prompto's face and shoulders were sprinkled with freckles, but different. Further apart, and larger. These were purple, and all in different patterns than the one on his hands.

As Prompto pushed his shirt over his shoulders, he noticed that Noctis' shoulders and arms were covered in the runes, too, all in different shapes, but all in the same shade of purple. Almost like tattoos, but not quite. Tattoos that lit up every time he used his magic. Prompto swallowed nervously. The skin between the purple markings was pale and gorgeous, and his hands were itching to reach forward and touch it. He wouldn't. He _couldn't_. Especially not while Noctis was still injured. By the Six did he want to, though.

Instead, his eyes moved downward—across Noctis' bare chest—and down to the wound on his side. Noctis had tried to play it off, and it _was_ a grazing shot, but it looked really, really painful. It was too deep for him to take care of on his own. Prompto frowned.

"Why didn't you go to the hospital, Noct?"

Noctis shook his head no. "I don't... I didn't want to be around people. After what happened, I mean. You know? It's not a big deal, Prom. I... I've had worse, and..." He winced when he turned to look at it.

Reaching a hand forward and placing it on Noctis' chest to stop him from moving, Prompto shook his head no. "Let me take care of it, then. Don't, okay?" Awareness of the fact that he was touching Noctis' chest flooded him, and his cheeks heated up as he took his hand away and let it hang at his side normally again. "Just... wait here, okay? While I go get the first aid kit from the bathroom. And promise me you won't lock me out again?" That part was added with a weak smile, in hopes of easing Noctis' mind just a little bit.

Only when Noctis nodded, did Prompto stand up again. "I promise," he murmured, a weak smile on his face.

"Don't move, okay? I'll be right back."

When Prompto left the room, he shook his head hard as he walked down the empty hallway. Now was _not_ the time for his crush to show its head. Not now. Not when Noctis needed him the most. Internally, he swore that everything would be back to normal when he went back to Noctis' room. No freaking out, and no making Noct freak out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised dramedy. So far, the 'medy' is missing. IT WILL SHOW UP SOON, I PROMISE.
> 
> ...back to your regularly scheduled fix reading. ❤❤


	5. Inseparable

Noctis sighed. He was glad that Prompto was back. Of course he was. Even without the hunter attack, last night was long. Noctis had managed to sleep, mostly because Noctis could _always_ manage to sleep, but it didn't really feel restful. It was a sleep plagued with dreams. Dreams where his dad turned into Prompto as he died. Where Prompto's ghost appeared and blamed him, told him that everything that happened was his fault, and swore to haunt him for the rest of his days. Twice the night prior, he'd awoken in a cold sweat. The third, he woke to the sound of crashes on the ground floor of his house.

From three in the morning up until about an hour before Prompto arrived at two in the afternoon, Noctis had been fighting those hunters. He was amazed, honestly, that he'd only managed to get the one wound. The one wound he _did_ get, though, hurt like hell. He glanced down at the bed behind him, at his soaked shirt, and then down at the soaked bandages on the floor from his own attempts to patch himself up. It wasn't a _lot_ of blood or anything. A part of him wondered exactly what it looked like to Prompto. The downstairs, Noctis remembered before he'd run upstairs to take refuge in his room, had been a mess, too. Everything was broken. There were a few blood spots—from the bandits, not from him; when Noctis had managed to conjure his spirit blade and fight back—and probably a whole bunch of bullet holes. The hunters had a lot of guns.

Honestly, Noctis was amazed that he'd managed to avoid being shot.

Even now, with all of them gone into the black hole he created to cover the whole of his hallway, their words echoed in his mind. How he wasn't normal. How he wasn't even really human. With a slow and shaky breath, Noctis glanced down at the runes on his arms. Just an hour ago, they'd been glowing like they always did when he used his magic. Thinking back to the research that Ignis had done into the meaning of his runes, that the ones on his hands meant 'love' and 'strength.' Love on the left, strength on the right. Noctis didn't know where he'd found that information, but ever since he had, Noctis found himself wondering what it meant. What the runes all over the rest of him meant.

As he shifted to get a look at one of the runes on his stomach, he winced a little bit. It tugged at the open flesh on his side and opened the wound a little bit more. Another small fount of blood started pouring out, and he huffed and made a face again. Gods, this sucked. It really _was_ just a grazing shot. Nothing too bad. Nothing worse than what happened when he and Prompto adventured together. So, why in the hell was this _acting_ like it was worse? He made a face, reaching his hand over with a balled up pile of gauze wrap to press just slightly against the wound and catch the blood before it hit his bed. He'd already have to change his sheets.

Just as he touched the new wad of gauze to the torn skin, Prompto appeared in the doorway with just about any medical supply Noctis had in his house in hand. He hurried over to the bed, setting everything on the floor before hitting his knees on the carpet. "What happened? You're bleeding again."

"I was trying to look at my runes," Noctis muttered. "Twisted wrong and then all of a sudden it decided that it was time to bleed."

Prompto sighed, taking a roll of paper towels and glancing down at the balled up gauze wrap in Noctis' hand. He rolled a whole bunch of paper towel onto his hand, paused, then set it down on a clean spot on Noctis' bed. Noctis' bed wasn't exactly the _cleanest_ place in the world, but it wasn't gross, either. Glancing at Prompto, Noctis blinked as he removed his shoulder straps with all of his pouches and set them on the floor. His ammo straps came next, and then he unbuckled all the buckles on his coat. Probably trying to keep it from getting bloody. It made sense. Noctis knew how much he loved that coat. Now he was down to a white tank top with black suspenders over it, and while Noctis had seen him like that before, while he was working at the garage, it was still a little bit more intimate, given the fact that Noctis was sitting on his bed without his shirt on altogether.

With a bashful frown, Noctis glanced at Prompto and murmured, "sorry. Wasn't trying to-"

Shaking his head, Prompto picked the bunch of paper towel back up, before dousing it in the antiseptic that he'd grabbed from Noctis' bathroom. "Don't worry about it," he insisted, before moving his hand forward to grab Noctis' wrist and uncover the wound. "I didn't, um... I had no idea you had so many runes on your chest." While he spoke, he didn't meet Noctis' eye. Instead, he just eyed the wound, murmured, "this is going to sting," in warning, and touched the paper towel to Noctis' side.

Sting was an understatement. Honestly, this almost hurt worse than it had when the dagger had grazed him to begin with. He hissed aloud, breathing in sharply through gritted teeth and staring up at the ceiling as he fisted his sheets and tried to focus on anything at _all_ but the burning, searing pain that tore through his skin.

Catching his gaze again, Prompto repeated his question. Well, kind of. He elaborated on it a little bit more, too. "Are they all over you?" he asked. "Legs too? And back and everything?"

Noctis barely managed to nod a stiff nod in response. "Yeah. Dad said that I got more runes than any mage he ever met," he spoke in a voice a little more forceful than he really meant to use. But hell, did that ever hurt.

"Do they all mean something different?" Prompto asked, squeezing the paper towel against Noctis' skin again and then flicking his eyes up to meet Noctis'.

It occurred to Noctis just then, that this was the first time that Prompto was really asking about his runes. It was the first time that Prompto had really asked _anything_ about his magic, actually. A part of Noctis had expected the pair of them to go right back to pretending that there was nothing different about him; pretending that he wasn't a mage and wasn't dangerous. This was honestly better, though. It was best for Prompto to know these things; to know what little he knew about what made him tick.

With that in mind, he nodded his head. "I don't know what most of 'em mean. Dad says that it's in an ancient language. Like, _pre_ -pre-Cataclysmic language. Iggy's looked it up before, you know, with some of the books they raided from that Niff library," he explained.

The face that Prompto made when Noctis mentioned the Niff library was odd. Almost like he'd struck some kind of nerve or something. Before Noctis could ask, Prompto nodded his head and lightly rubbed the antiseptic covered paper towel over Noctis' wound again. "Still don't know how he can get through those books without a massive snore-fest happening, but yeah. I remember," he chuckled softly. "Did he figure anything out?"

Noctis nodded. "Couple things. I know what the ones on my hands mean." He glanced down at his hands.

"What do they mean?" Prompto asked, glancing at the hand closest to him; Noctis' right, and looking the rune over.

Unwittingly, Noctis' eyes followed, and he shrugged his head to the side. "That one means strength," he explained. "And the left one means love. I'm not sure why those ones are so far separated from the others, and they're bigger, too. A part of me is wondering if the runes on a mage's hand mean something special. Because Luna's got larger runes on her hands, too. I'm not totally sure what those ones mean, though." The confession came with a shrug of his opposite shoulder as he glanced down at where Prompto was still tending his wound, wiping some of the excess blood away.

The antiseptic was still stinging, as Prompto pressed another bit of paper towel to the wound to stop a little bit more bleeding. With a sigh, he gathered a little bit of medical tape, and a strip of gauze, to tape a large makeshift bandage over the top of it. "Maybe it means something like... your strength comes from love?" he suggested nonchalantly.

With a shrug, Noctis admitted, "that's what Ignis thinks. That I love people so much that it gives me extra strength." He paused, huffed a humorless chuckle, and then looked up at the ceiling. "If that's true, I wish it wasn't. 'Cause all it does is hurt the people I love."

"And protect them," Prompto reminded him as he finished taping the strip of bandage around the wound. "You protect me a lot with your magic, Noct. Yeah, that whole thing with the black hole was weird, but that's the first time something like that has ever happened when it was just the two of us. I think you're not giving yourself enough credit. Like..." a pause, a shrug, and then he started up again, "yeah. Some bad stuff happened, but don't forget the good stuff your magic does. The bandits and mage hunters you've taken out with it. Something outside was making you go haywire. Remember?"

That was also true, and easy to forget with everything else that had happened. There _was_ something from the outside that was messing with his magic and making it go haywire. "I almost felt like it was pulsing through me," he told Prompto. "Every time I got shoved around by one of the bandits or something, it felt like I was a soda bottle that was being shaken and was about to explode." He swallowed nervously. It had taken so much to hold it back, to keep it from coming out like that.

Prompto frowned as he gathered the roll of medical wrap. "But you managed to keep it in check for as long as you did," he pointed out.

Noctis nodded. "Don't know how, but yeah," he answered.

Silence overtook the room as Prompto leaned in close to wrap the bandage around Noctis' waist. All he could hear was the sound of Prompto's breathing, and the soft sound of the cloth bandage as it wrapped around him. He met Prompto's gaze as he leaned in close to wrap the bandage around Noctis' waist, watching the intense furrow of his brow as he focused on trying to get it just right. The way his eyes were focused downward on the bandage, the way he bit his lip nervously. His eyes trailed down to the freckles on Prompto's shoulders, and then down to his arms, just as freckled as the rest of him.

"My runes are kinda like freckles, though," Noctis mused with a little grin.

Prompto turned his head to look at Noctis, and for a second, it was enough to take him off guard. They were close, right then. Really close, actually. Prompto had his arms around Noctis' waist, his hands meeting in the back to pass the roll of medical wrap between them, and it put his face _right_ in the proximity of Noctis' face. His eyes, bright blue and sparkling, looked completely stunned—either by the words or by the proximity—and he just blinked a couple of times, before laughing an awkward and nervous breath of laughter and moving his hands around, behind Noctis' back to hand the wrap between them.

When Prompto spoke again, his voice was nervous, soft, and a little bit shaky. "I was thinking that earlier. I wish my freckles were that cool, though," he murmured.

Shrugging again, Noctis answered, "I like them. Your freckles. They're not common, you know? I've known two people in my lifetime with runes like mine." Sort of like his, anyway. His dad's had been gold and Luna's were blue. "You're the only person I know with freckles like that. Sets you apart," he admitted.

There was a dusting of red on Prompto's cheeks that overtook the freckles. Redness that was kind of unexpected, but easily the most endearing thing that Noctis had seen in his life. Prompto huffed a nervous breath, before slowly starting to wrap Noctis' waist up again. "Thanks," he muttered quietly, nervously, and then glanced back up at Noctis' face.

It was true, it wasn't the first time that Noctis had ever really looked at Prompto like this. Or, at least not the first time that Noctis had _thought_ about him like this, but it was the first time that he'd ever given it more than a passing thought and then deemed it impossible. It didn't really feel like it was impossible at the moment, there being some kind of spark between them. Honestly, it made more sense than Noctis being interested in anyone else. Prompto was that one person who, no matter what happened, was always on his side. Always in his corner. There had been a flash of what his life would be like _without_ that the night before, and Noctis hadn't really liked it. He hadn't liked it at all, actually.

With a quiet chuckle, as Prompto closed the bandage with another strip of medical tape, Noctis looked at him again, regarding him closely, and then saying, "I'm glad you came today," in an embarrassed voice.

Either the tone, or the words themselves, seemed to take Prompto by surprise. He leaned back a little bit so that he wasn't _completely_ in Noctis' space, and then swallowed nervously, before gathering another couple pieces of paper towel to wipe his hands off. "So am I," he muttered. "I'm sorry I wasn't here with you. When this happened."

As much as Noctis wanted to say that he was glad that Prompto hadn't been there, a small part of him really wasn't. That small part was, maybe, not quite as small as Noctis wanted to think it was. Because, honestly, as well as Noctis thought that he'd done in holding the group of mage hunters off, he and Prompto always worked better as a team. They always did well, holding off whoever was in their path. Noctis had to wonder if he'd have _needed_ the black hole power if Prompto had been there. It didn't matter, really, of course. Prompto hadn't been there, and he'd had every right to feel a _little_ bit of anxiety—hell, he had the right to feel a _lot_ of anxiety—when it came to Noctis. And it really was enough that he was here now.

Still, with a shrug, Noctis smiled a little bit more genuinely than he probably should have been able to. "You needed time," he insisted.

For a couple of seconds, Prompto just stared at the floor, guilt flooding his features. He shook it off, before looking up at Noctis and speaking up again. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Anything," Noctis answered with a nod.

Swallowing nervously, Prompto crouched down and uncapped a bottle of painkillers that Noctis used when he got headaches, shaking two in his hand and then gathering a small canteen of water from his belt on the floor. Both hands were offered out to Noctis before he spoke up again. "If... if I call Iggy and tell him about this, can you... will you maybe think about finding another to help teach you to use your power? That power, I mean. You're pretty much the best warper in the world—probably the _only_ , but you're really good at it." He was rambling, a nervous habit that Noctis knew he had. "But this other power... it can hurt more than other people, you know? Maybe if you can use it... maybe if you can control it a little bit better-"

Noctis bit his lip, frowned, and asked, "you'd feel safe around me?" It wasn't what he'd said, but Noctis thought that maybe it was what he meant.

Before he could stew on that thought, Prompto shook his head adamantly. "No! No, that's not what I mean at all. I mean... I feel safe around you right now. I feel safe around you, Noct, okay? I promise." Again, he was rambling. "But if you can harness it? If you can really learn how to use it? Imagine what you can do! Imagine how much _more_ awesome you can be! No mage hunters or bandits or anything would even stand a chance!" As he talked, he'd started to gather up all of the trash, all of the medical supplies around Noctis' room, and then tossed them into the trash can.

Swallowing nervously, Noctis met Prompto's eye and raked his teeth over his lip. "And you really think I can learn to use it?"

One of Prompto's hands urged Noctis to stand up, while the other reached down to help him. "I think, Noct, that you can do anything in the world if you try. You're... you're freaking Noct, man. You're not just some random mage. You're the best, coolest, most badass person I know! Imagine how badass it would be if you could make one of those black holes anywhere you wanted to? And make a bandit or a mage hunter just... disappear?" he asked eagerly as he tugged on Noctis' arm, helping him to his feet. When Noctis was standing, Prompto placed a hand on his bare shoulder.

"That would be pretty cool."

Prompto nodded. "Cid told me that your dad was training you. That... that it just went haywire, randomly," he admitted, lowering his hand and moving to strip the bloody sheets from Noctis' bed.

With a frown, Noctis noticed that the blood had seeped through the sheets and to the mattress. He took a step forward to help Prompto flip it, but his friend placed a hand on his shoulder again and shook his head no. "You just relax, okay? Let me take care of stuff until Iggy's here to mom us both." The words were spoken with a fond smile as he grabbed the bottom of Noctis' king sized mattress and—with considerable effort—flipped it over. Or, well... flipped it onto the floor on the other side of the bed.

Noctis stepped backward a couple of steps, bit his lip to stifle a soft laugh, and then mused, "you probably could've just waited until Gladio got here. We put him in Hulk Mode and he could just flip the mattress like a coin," with a smirk on his face.

As Prompto walked over to the other side of the mattress and slowly started working it back up onto the bed, he shrugged. "Yeah, but it could take them a couple days to get here," he answered as he pushed the mattress, trying to even it out on top of the frame. After he finally pushed it into place, he flopped down face first onto the empty bed, grunted, and let his face fall flat onto the bed. "How do people _do_ stuff like that? How did you do it when you got this bed?"

Grinning, Noctis answered, "Gladio." It was a simple answer. "He literally carried the mattress up here by himself and installed it for me. Makes me wish I could go into Hulk Mode like he does. Berserker Rage, or whatever he calls it." Moving toward the closet, he opened it and glanced up toward the top shelf at the linens. On a normal day, it would've been easy for him to just reach up there and grab them, but any lifting his arms would probably agitate his wound.

Prompto walked up beside him, rocking up onto the tips of his toes and gathering Noctis' backup bed sheets from the top shelf. "I wish I knew Iggy's cleaning secrets," he murmured as he walked over to the bed and started setting the black sheets out. "How does he _always_ have the blood or mud or whatever else out of things, like... overnight?"

"Beats me," Noctis murmured, stepping to the side and leaning back against the wall as Prompto made his bed.

It was times like this when he found himself wondering exactly what he'd done to deserve a friend like Prompto. A friend who could look past all of the things that made Noctis weird; made him a bizarre person—deny them, even—and still be the best friend that anyone in the world had ever had. Who could tend a wound like the one Noctis had, turn around, and start cleaning his disaster of a house. Noctis was ready to wait until the wound healed to start repairing the damage, or maybe even find a new place to live, if he didn't hear from Prompto between then and when he healed up, but now it wasn't necessary anymore.

Once again, when Prompto finished making the bed, he flopped down onto the fresh sheets face first and grunted. "Man, it's been a really long couple of days," he mumbled into the bed.

Noctis nodded and chuckled halfheartedly, stepping across the short span of room to sit next to Prompto's face-first-flopped body on his bed. "It really has," he muttered. He wanted to lay back, but a part of him was afraid to stretch and move his side.

As Prompto rolled onto his side, he turned his head and glanced at Noctis. "So, you never answered me earlier," he murmured. "Do you think you can find another mage to help you learn how to harness your energy? Like... I know there's others who'd teach you. Luna's said more than once that she would, hasn't she?"

That was true, actually. She had said, on several different occasions, that she'd help Noctis learn how to properly use his power. It was a nerve-wracking thing, honestly. Not because he didn't trust Luna. Her magic was different from his, of course—more based on healing and energy manipulation—but he knew that she'd had to learn from her mother, much like Noctis had learned from his father, how to use her own abilities. It had been a long and arduous process, from what he remembered her telling him, but now she was one of the best healers in Eos. The bar that she ran, a few towns over in Cauthess, was a very thin mask for an underground medic.

A lot of the time, mages were turned away from normal hospitals. Regardless of the proof that they were just magically imbued people, hospitals were afraid, for some reason, that their magic was an illness. Noctis had been turned away more than once. Either for an actual illness or a broken bone or some kind of injury he'd sustained while he was out and about with Prompto. That, alongside his desire not to be around people at the moment, was what had kept him away from any hospital for this injury. He hadn't called Luna yet, either, and _that_ had more to do with the fact that he didn't want to be around people.

Luna's underground healer's sanctuary, in the basement of her bar, was sort of a refuge for the mages who couldn't get help at normal hospitals. Other people, too. Gladio's crew was sort of unwelcome at normal hospitals, mostly because of the hefty bounty placed on their heads in places like Niflheim. Places that his crew went to get their goods and stuff, that they brought back to Lucis.

"Luna would probably teach me, yeah," Noctis nodded his agreement. "I just... I'm a little bit nervous to learn. Like... the last time I learned-"

Noctis was about to explain what had happened; to tell Prompto about the night his dad had died, and how it had more or less been entirely Noctis' fault. Before he got the chance, though, Prompto placed a hand on his, reminding him that, "I know," with a nod. "Cid told me. He told me that he was trying to teach you. That things got out of control. But... there's gotta be a reason for that, right?"

Maybe there was a reason. Maybe, behind all of the weirdness that surrounded this mage power, there was a reason that it seemed to go haywire in caves and mines like it did. Maybe it was those stones, like the bandits said. Noctis didn't know. he'd never really done any research to find out, honestly. Fear of the answer—fear of finding out that he was some sort of ticking time bomb—kept him from really looking into it. Still, it was a good thing to know, probably. There was a chance that, maybe, Luna would know. Luna and Ignis together combined to make a hell of a research team. Not because Luna really knew much about her own powers. She didn't know a whole lot more than Noctis, at least not more than what she'd read in various books. Still, she _had_ read a lot more about it. She'd learned more, and learned how to apply it to herself and what she could do. Combine that with the seemingly endless research that Ignis did, and maybe the pair of them could come up with some kind of answer.

With that in mind, he nodded his head as he glanced at Prompto. "Maybe."

"It's worth looking into, isn't it?" Prompto insisted. "Taking what you know and learning how to control it, learning what makes it go crazy, and learning how to keep it from going much crazier? Learning how to make it go the _good_ kind of crazy. Please, Noct. I know you're afraid of your power. I know you are. But... maybe this'll help you be less afraid of it."

If Noctis was honest with himself, there wasn't much that Prompto could ask for that Noctis wouldn't give him. If he asked for something impossible, Noctis would find a way to make it possible. This was possible. This was probably pretty easy, when push came to shove. A good thing, even. Learning to harness power, learning to make it his own, finishing the training that his father started with him back all those years ago? It would be a good show of respect to his father's memory. Plus, Noctis couldn't even deny the thought that it would be kind of cool, being able to summon those black holes at will and take out enemies from a distance.

Turning to glance at Prompto, Noctis raked his teeth over his lip and nodded. "Alright," he answered. "A-alright. But..." He paused, considering his next question for a couple of seconds.

At first, he was going to ask Prompto if he would come along. Come to Luna's bar and wait for him to learn. The rest of him was, admittedly, a little bit nervous to ask that. Prompto was probably still a little gun-shy to be out and about with him like that. Would he ever want to go on adventures with Noctis again?

"But what?"

Any thought of deciding not to ask the question was out the window when those bright blue eyes were turned on him like that. Questioning, and a little bit sleepy, too. Prompto was honestly kind of his Achilles heel. His weakness. The one thing in the world that he couldn't handle in one way or another. Laughing a nervous breath of laughter, he raised his left hand, wincing a little bit when it still stretched the skin on the right side of his middle, and then asked, "would it be too much to ask... for you to come with me? Like, I totally get it if you don't want to. After everything that happened. I just... I thought that-"

Prompto's hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts, and a warm and gentle smile crossed his best friend's face. "Noct, if you think I'm gonna be anywhere else while you're learning to be even more of a badass? You're insane," he spoke in that trademark voice that Prompto always used when he was tired.

"Pretty sure you're too nice to me," Noctis murmured, slowly lowering himself down to lay on the bed beside Prompto.

The hum of denial that Prompto gave showed exactly how tired his best friend was. "Don't think I'm nice enough," he answered, stifling a yawn behind his hand. "F'I was nice enough, I wouldn't have let you leave Hammerhead yesterday."

Noctis laughed a single, soft note. It wasn't really funny, but it was either laugh or deal with the sadness, and when the mood was just starting to pick up a little bit, he didn't want to do that. "I still say you're too nice to me. Don't want to know what my life would be like without you, honestly. If last night was any indication, it wouldn't be fun." The confession was a little bit candid, but it was true.

"Me too," Prompto agreed.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, Noctis looked at the drawn curtains over the windows, and then over at Prompto. "Y'know, if the living room's a mess? You don't have to go back down and sleep there. You look tired. The bed's huge. We should, y'know, be able to stay out of each other's space enough to share it. Right?"

The expression on Prompto's face was a little bit nervous at first, as he propped himself up on his elbow and looked across the length of the bed. "I guess that's true," he mumbled. "I said I was gonna call Iggy, though..."

With a shrug, Noctis moved a little bit so that he was up against the headboard of the bed. "You can call him in the morning. It's not like he doesn't wake up at ass o'clock, anyway, and you and me aren't gonna go anywhere, right? Unless you wanted to leave for Luna's right away..." If he did, Noctis would find a way to get them there, but Prompto looked really tired. Like he could use a good night's sleep.

Humming his agreement, Prompto stretched his arms over to the edge of the bed, grabbing it and pulling until he was laying against the pillow on the other side. "You're makin' a lot of sense, Noct. When'd you start doin' that?" he asked as he yanked the blankets back and nestled underneath them.

"S'what happens when you hang around Specs as much as we do. Stop me before I start saying words like 'funambulism' though, please, okay?"

Prompto laughed, burying his face in the pillow and snorting as he turned his head back to glance over at Noctis again. "What does that even mean?" he asked.

Noctis just shrugged, gingerly moving his body under the blankets when Prompto lifted them for him. " _I don't even know_. He just said it one day, and I looked at him with what he called a 'preposterously perplexed expression on my face.'" The smile on Noctis' face belied any frustration he might have been feeling.

Laughing, Prompto rolled his eyes. "Specs is _weird_ , man," he muttered as he stretched.

"So are you, though."

His voice growing ever more tired, Prompto huffed. "Look who's talkin', Noct," he mumbled.

With a laugh, Noctis told Prompto to, "go to sleep, weirdo."

"I'm tryin'! You go to sleep, too. Shouldn't even have to ask you! You're the one who likes to sleep until four in the afternoon!" Prompto teased.

Rolling his eyes, Noctis shrugged a shoulder. "Kinda hard to sleep with you running your mouth in my ear, Prom." Again, he was smiling with his whole face.

It was weird to be able to laugh right now, honestly. Given the fact that his house looked like a tornado had run through it and the fact that his side was still pretty sore, even with the pain killers working their way through his system, he shouldn't have been able to laugh at all. Still, somehow, knowing that Prompto was still on his side, that they were still a team and that Prompto believed in him enough to think that he could learn to control his magic? That was more than enough to take the rough night, the rough day that he'd had and smooth out the edges to make it manageable. Seriously, what would he do without Prompto?

"G'night, Prom," he grunted as he tugged the blankets up to his chin with one arm.

Prompto hummed. "S'only like, three in the afternoon, but whatever. G'night, Noct," he responded in kind, before closing his eyes.

Not too long after he heard Prompto's breathing even out on the other side of the bed, Noctis, too, found himself easing into sleep. Whether it was the pills or the fact that he was tired, this time, it was a completely and totally restful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Past the nano halfway point and still not even close to halfway through my plans here... lmao.


	6. Underway

It took a couple of days for Gladio and his crew to get to Noctis' place. Two days spent just hanging around in his house with Prompto, doing whatever they could to try and fix his broken things. Prompto had taken to immediately trying to repair his broken TV, ordering Noctis to sit and rest his injury. Only when the TV was fixed—in better condition than it was before, thanks to more of that powdered rock from Cid—did Prompto work on cleaning up other bits and pieces of things around the house. They didn't really get too far. A lot of it was too heavy for Prompto to lift alone, and Noctis couldn't exactly help him in the condition that he was in. So, they ended up moving the TV up into the bedroom, ordering delivery food from one of the only Insomnian restaurants that would deliver to Noctis' place—a pizza place, owned by a couple of his dad's old friends—and just relaxing there.

On day three, Gladio and his crew arrived.

Ignis immediately set to babying Noctis in the way that he always did. He looked over the injury, deeming it worthy of stitches, while Prompto helped Iris, Gladio, and the rest of their pirate crew clean up the living room. Iris set to work fixing the holes in the furniture, while Gladio and a couple of the other pirates set straight to work with lifting up the fallen shelves, righting all the broken bits of furniture, and making everything look like it usually did.

Meanwhile, Noctis sat on his bed while Ignis looked over the healing wound on Noctis' side. It was healing, but it still looked pretty rough. Noctis had thought it was just a grazing shot, but Ignis seemed pretty sure that it was actually worse than that. That there was more than an inch of damage done, and he expressed his endless frustration with the fact that Insomnian hospitals wouldn't take Noctis in.

"At least Prompto managed to keep it clean, and keep it from bleeding," Ignis murmured as he crouched down and looked the wound over again. "I wish he'd stitched it, though. It's going to need some assistance in order to close properly."

With a single-shouldered shrug, Noctis looked at the wound. It was a little bit better, but Ignis was right. It probably would've healed a lot faster if it had been stitched closed. Noctis and Prompto had never really learned to properly give stitches, but it was something they'd more than likely have to look into. Especially if they were going to continue their adventures together. The realization suddenly dawned on Noctis, though, that Ignis mentioning stitches likely meant that now that _he_ was here, stitches were going to happen. Ignis was pretty good with things like that—he always gave Noctis basic medical attention when he bumped and bruised himself as a kid—so he probably knew how.

Nervously, he asked, "does that mean you're gonna stitch it?"

Ignis simply nodded. "We really can't have you just sitting there with a gaping wound in your side, Noct," he murmured in reply, wiping some of the antiseptic away after he'd cleaned it again. "Much as you'll likely hate it, stitches are going to be necessary. Don't worry too much. I have some anesthesia from the med bay on the ship. I'll make sure I numb it. I've had to give many stitches to some of the more reckless folk on the crew, so you're in good hands." He smiled a warm and gentle smile at Noctis.

"By 'more reckless folk on the crew' you mean Gladio, don't you?" Noctis mused, trying to fend off the worry he was feeling about getting stitches _again_ with a wry smirk in Ignis' direction.

Laughing, Ignis nodded. "I knew you'd figure it out," he offered in reply, gathering a bottle as well as some stitching thread and a needle from the massive first aid kit—it honestly looked more like some kind of tool box—a couple of feet away from him. "Gladio has taken to running distraction when we raid in Niflheim. It's all well and good when his berserking dulls his pain, but when he comes back to the ship all riddled with cuts and bruises, it's less fun. Somehow, he never lets it slow him down." Despite his exasperation, Ignis was smiling affectionately as he spoke of his boyfriend.

Noctis snorted a laugh. "Was wondering where that new crop of scars came from. So, he's picking fights with Niffs as a hobby now?" He watched as Ignis doused a cloth with some anesthetic, and honestly looked forward to not feeling any pain in his side for the first time since the whole incident took place. "You've gotta teach him to knit or something. Much safer."

Ignis laughed again. "It's worse now, too, because Iris has begun taking up his bad habits. You should see how _proud_ she was of the massive scar on her back, Noct. I'm sure you'll hear the whole story as soon as she finishes mending your couch," he offered.

Again, Noctis laughed. "Man, I'm not sure if Uncle Clarus would be proud or worried if he was still around." He gritted his teeth a little bit as Ignis touched the cloth to his skin.

"Clarus was more of a live-wire than he wanted us to think most of the time," Ignis chuckled softly, gently dabbing the anesthetic around Noctis' cut, not just on the open flesh but all of the skin around it, where it was a little bit red and a little bit further, too. "He always pretended that all of their crazy adventures were your father's idea, but just as many of them were his, too. Perhaps more."

This time, as the liquid seeped into Noctis' skin, he wasn't overcome with the stinging of the antiseptic. Instead, it was a pleasant numbness; a lack of any pain for the first time since the injury had happened. Gods, he needed something like this with him at all times. He turned his head, watching in morbid curiosity as Ignis threaded the needle with a length of black string. Maybe it was a little bit stupid to watch something like this, but Noctis couldn't help but wonder what it would look like. Especially since he couldn't feel it. Would it be an out of body experience?

Ignis just chuckled. "There was one time," he regaled as he tied the string off and cut it, "that your father and Clarus took the rest of their group all the way to the waterfall outside of Lestallum. Not because there were any leads on keys there or anything, but just because they hadn't heard anything about the place and they wanted to check it for themselves. A definite bit of morbid curiosity."

"Kind of like a process of elimination thing?" Noctis asked.

Shaking his head, Ignis focused dutifully on his task. "Not even that. Just wondering what was in there, because they hadn't heard anything about it at all. According to Weskham, all they found were a group of cave squatting bandits who didn't take too kindly to people on their turf. The fight was a long one, because the bandits were far better armed than any that anyone in the group had seen before, but they won. And that's how they found Gladio's airship."

Wide-eyed, Noctis snapped his head up to look at Ignis. "Wait, what?" he asked.

Ignis chuckled again. "Yes, I reacted much the same way. They found keys in the bandits' belongings, and they had no idea _why_ there were keys. They discovered the answer when they followed a trail outside of the cave to a clearing. The airship stood there, completely in the open, and completely destroyed. Cid took to fixing it up for them," he explained.

"I didn't know the airship used to be theirs."

With a shake of his head, Ignis huffed a gentle chuckle. "It wasn't. They didn't want to use an airship. Well, okay, that's not exactly accurate. They _wanted_ to use it, but your father got horribly airsick every time they tried to use it," he mused. "He tried to offer for them to keep using it, and he could follow on land, but they were just about as ride-or-die as you and Prompto are. Where one of them went, the others always followed." Now, his smile was a little bit more wistful.

Even to the grave. It wasn't _completely_ true. Weskham, Cid, and Cor were still around. Clarus, though, died a few months after Noctis' dad died. A fight against mage hunters that were threatening Luna's bar. Noctis remembered that they went after her completely unprovoked. Luna was minding her own business, and all of a sudden, the hunters attacked. Luna and Nyx fought back for a time, before taking refuge in her sanctuary underneath the bar. They waited for a couple of days, until Clarus, Weskham, Cor, and Cid arrived to help them out. Noctis was pretty sure that he remembered Ignis and Gladio going along with them. He was charged with babysitting Iris alongside Cindy, though.

Noctis didn't know how many there were, but there had to be quite a few, if they'd managed to take Clarus out. Or maybe not. He knew that Clarus had always had the tendency to put himself right in the front of combat to keep everyone else safe. Noctis frowned. A part of him wondered if, wherever Clarus and his dad were, they were adventuring together. Probably. There was nothing that could keep them from it.

"So, rather than forcing your father to be airsick in a ship, they gave it to Gladio," Ignis huffed a gentle laugh. "Honestly, I'm still not certain if that was the safest course of action for it, but they seemed to think so. And despite the Nifilian bounty on Gladio's head, it's kept him largely out of trouble."

Who _didn't_ have a Nifilian bounty, these days?

Noctis had never actually _been_ to Niflheim. Most Nifilians were less friendly than Lucians were to mages, after all—Noctis was reasonably sure that they were the epicenter for all the mage hunters in the world—so he'd probably be killed on the spot. Or at least immediately recognized as a mage and kicked out of the country. Most likely killed on the spot, though. Noctis heaved a heavy sigh.

"You'd think he'd be more cautious with that bounty," he muttered, glancing out the door into the empty hallway, like that was the direction that Gladio was in.

Shrugging, Ignis laughed again. "That's not his style, though. And honestly, I'd like to see any Nifilian try to bring him in. They'd be in for a fight." There was a rumble in his tone, likely saying that the fight wouldn't just be from Gladio. Ignis was highly skilled with daggers, and one of the most nimble and agile people that Noctis knew, so he was pretty sure that his friend could easily take out anyone who tried to hurt Gladio.

It coaxed a laugh out of him. "I'm honestly sorry for anyone who thinks they can actually hurt one of you without bringing down hellfire from the other," he mused. "And Iris, for that matter."

Smirking, Ignis nodded his head as he grabbed his scissors and snipped at the string, signifying that he was finished stitching Noctis' wound. "Yes, you're quite right," he mused. "Though I assume it's much the same with you and Prompto." The expression on his face was a little bit weird, like it was leading him somewhere, or like he was hiding something just under the surface that he didn't plan to share. It was weird, sure, but Noctis had long since learned not to ask. If it was something Ignis wanted to tell him, Ignis wouldn't beat around the bush.

And it wasn't like he was wrong, either. "Anyone wants to hurt Prompto, they're gonna have to go through me." Or be able to float over a black hole that he couldn't control yet.

"And regardless of what you find out, that will still be the case, hm?" It was spoken nonchalantly as Ignis set the needle off to the side, but there was a little bit of layering to it, too, like he was just barely holding back from telling Noctis something. What, though?

Noctis nodded. "I mean... yeah..." he answered.

Before either of them could elaborate any further, though, Gladio appeared in the doorway and knocked at the wall next to it like he couldn't already see everything that was going on. "Damn, Noct, you did a number on this place. Usually for somethin' like this to happen, a damn tornado needs to rip through. How many hunters were you fightin' off?" he asked.

For a couple of seconds, all Noctis could do was watch Ignis with concern as he covered Noctis' wound with another piece of medical wrap and more medical tape. When Ignis busied himself with wrapping the wound, pointedly avoiding Noctis' gaze, Noctis turned his attention to Gladio and blinked in confusion for a couple of seconds. What did Ignis know that Noctis didn't? If Ignis knew it, than it was highly likely that Gladio knew it, too. So, the expression on his face was silently questioning Gladio as well. Gladio simply blinked, giving him a confused expression in return, before stepping all the way into the room.

"Um..." Noctis tried to backpedal to the question that Ignis had asked him, thinking back to a few nights ago. "Six of 'em. They chased me back here, and I used that black hole thing to make 'em disappear." He chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck and letting a frown replace the confident smile.

Ignis finally looked up, glancing over toward Gladio in a moment of silent communication. Like the pair of them were having a whole conversation without speaking. It was just slight movements of their eyes—Ignis squinted a little bit more, then tilted his head toward Noctis, Gladio's eyebrow arched, and then his eyes widened like he'd made a realization, and then Ignis nodded once—and after a few seconds, Gladio turned to look back at Noctis with a serious expression on his face. Noctis was no stranger to those weird little non-conversations that the pair of them had. They did it all the time, and normally it wasn't this obnoxious. This time, though, with Noctis unable to do anything but watch them with his eyebrows furrowed, it was on his nerves.

When Gladio finally spoke up, Noctis found himself wondering exactly how it had anything to do with the silent conversation. "So, Prom tells me you're goin' to Luna's place to work on your magic?" he asked.

Blinking a couple of times in confusion, Noctis nodded his head slowly. "Yeah," he answered. "I figured it was the only way to make sure I was safe to be around people, y'know? Learn to harness that power, and... and explain to her what happened in the mine so maybe she can tell me exactly how it happened."

Gladio nodded. "Good idea. After that," he paused, stepping all the way into Noctis' room, and then leaning back against the wall next to the door. "Me and Iggy were thinkin' that you and Prom could come with us. Y'know, on the Fist?"

"I still can't believe you named your ship the Fist-"

With a laugh, Gladio shrugged a shoulder. "The Fiery Fist," he corrected.

"Because that's _so_ much better," Noctis countered, still smirking with his whole face as he looked at his friend.

Rumbling in annoyance, Gladio rolled his eyes. _"Anyway,"_ he snapped, trying to direct the conversation away from his really, really bad choice in ship names, "we were thinkin' that you could come with us, y'know? We could get you to any leads that Loqi sends to Prompto a lot quicker than Cid's cars could, and we could help you find 'em. Although, if you're gonna be a little shit about the name of my ship, maybe I'll change my mind." His grin was still wry, showing Noctis that he was kidding.

It had been a long time since Noctis had been on Gladio's ship, honestly. Way too long. He kept hearing about renovations that Gladio had made every time they met up somewhere, and plans for future renovations, too, but he'd never seen any of them. It was hard to deny a little bit of curiosity. Noctis hummed thoughtfully at the offer. A lot of his answer would depend on one thing.

That one thing was, "did you ask Prompto yet?"

Ignis huffed a gentle breath of laughter and then nodded his head. "As if we would ever suggest something to you without clearing it with your better half," he teased.

"Hey! He's not-"

With a grin, as if Ignis had provided him with a perfect opening, Gladio shrugged his head to the side. "You guys fucked yet, by the way?" he asked nonchalantly.

The dramatic noise of frustration that Noctis made probably would have many any angst-ridden teenager jealous, as he tossed his head back and grunted an annoyed breath at the ceiling. "Remind me why I'm considering going with you guys?" he grumbled. He was already feeling better, honestly. It'd probably feel worse when the anesthesia wore off and he could actually feel the needle pokes where Ignis had stitched him, but that was beside the point for right now.

Gladio shrugged. "'Cause I'm offerin' to cart your ass all around the damn globe for your stupid treasure hunting plans? Crew's pretty excited, so if you _don't_ agree, you're probably gonna have a lot of competition wherever you two plan on goin'," he added, as though that would sway Noctis' opinion one way or another.

"Good thing I wasn't gonna say no, then. Long as Prompto said yes," Noctis countered.

Shrugging a shoulder, Ignis laughed softly as he stood up. "I believe his exact words were, 'my answer depends on Noct's answer,'" he explained as he started putting the medical supplies away. "Not exactly doing your defense of not being one another's better half any favors, might I add." The smirk on Ignis' face grew even wider as he closed up the first aid kit.

With a nod, Gladio added, "or provin' to me that the pair of you didn't fuck."

"We didn't fuck!" Noctis shouted.

Iris' voice carried down the hall, a loud giggle that only cropped up after Noctis' staunch and loud denial of Gladio's accusation, and she appeared around the corner with a wide grin on her face. "No, but Prompto _did_ tell me that he's been sleeping in your bed for the past couple of days," she pointed out, grabbing a glass of some sort of drink from the tray in her hand and offering it out to Gladio. A second one went to Ignis and a third to Noctis, and she took the fourth one for herself, before plopping down on the bed next to Noctis. "So, sleeping next to each other, but no fun happening? That's gotta be-"

Groaning again, Noctis slumped his shoulders and breathed a sigh in Iris' direction. "Not you, too, Iris!" he pleaded. "You used to be the sane one!"

She held her free hand up in mock-defense, then let the grin on her face grow even wider. "I'm just saying!" she announced as Gladio and Ignis walked out of the room, grinning with their whole faces like they'd won some kind of debate. "The tormented mage, who is more emo than even the most emo of emo bands, the ray of sunshine best friend, who has the emo boy's back no matter what and pretty much exudes support and energy out of his every pore. A match made in the heavens! I ship it!" She nodded and took a sip from her drink, crossing her legs at the knee and straightening her skirt.

"Why do you guys always do this?" Noctis asked her, annoyed.

After a giggle, Iris shrugged a shoulder and ticked her head sideways in a shrug. "I'm just sayin'! You can't tell me that you've never _thought_ about it before, Noct."

Noctis rolled his eyes. "Only when you guys keep throwing it in my face!" He gathered his undershirt from the bed next to him and slowly, gingerly, put it on. It felt weird, having his runes exposed to everyone like this. Not that most of them already seen the ones on his shoulders, it was just something he still wasn't completely comfortable with.

Iris nodded eagerly. "And I bet it seems totally natural in your head when you think about it, too. Like, you guys spend all the time in the world together, go everywhere together. You're pretty much already married, like Nyx says," she poked him gently in the shoulder, before pushing up from the bed and turning her body in an odd, jumping spin of a motion to look at him.

"That's what friends do, Iris," Noctis reminded her with an embarrassed laugh, as he grabbed for his vest and tugged it on, too.

She rolled her eyes. "Is it, though? Like, I'm friends with Iggy. We don't spend every waking moment together. I don't—well, I _do_ pretty much live in the same place as him, but that's because we both live on Gladdy's ship—but I don't live in his quarters or anything!" she insisted. "I'm friends with Luna, and I don't live at the bar. I'm friends with you, and I don't live _here_." She gathered Noctis' cloak from the floor and set it on the bed next to him.

He heaved a dramatic sigh and rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, but mine and Prompto's friendship is different from yours with Luna or Iggy or whoever else. We're-"

"Basically married," Iris nodded once, resolutely.

Noctis groaned again, tossing his head back and looking at the ceiling. " _No_!" he countered, like that was miraculously enough to persuade Iris away from this lane of thinking. It wasn't, and Noctis knew it. "Listen. I know that you guys are really crazy about the idea of the two of us getting together, but I'm-" He paused. He was going to say that he wasn't interested in Prompto in that way, but that wouldn't exactly be true. Not that he was _head over heels_ or anything, but it would be pretty stupid to deny how attractive his best friend was. So, re-evaulating, he chuckled awkwardly and said, "we're not like that, Iris. He's my best friend, and that's perfectly fine with me." It was more than he felt like he deserved most days.

The way that Iris rolled her eyes, exasperated, as she zipped his cloak open and held it out for Noctis to put on was a little bit amusing. Like she was offended by Noctis' insistence that he and Prompto were just friends. "One of these days, when I ask you if you two are a couple, you're gonna say yes. And then they'll hear me shout the loudest 'I told you so' that Eos has ever heard."

Snorting a laugh, Noctis shook his head. "Don't hold your breath," he insisted as he slid his arms into his cloak, then zipped and hooked the front together.

As though he was summoned by Noctis and Iris' conversation, Prompto appeared in the doorway with a big smile on his face. "Noct!" he exclaimed. "Look what Gladio and me found when we were moving your bookshelf back into place!" He paused, glancing at Iris, waving and smiling, before he turned back to Noctis and continued. "Remember that photo album of pics that we took when we went all the way out to the other side of the lake in the Vesperpool and we found that really weird relic that we couldn't move? And how we lost them a couple of months ago after we got drunk and went on one of those nostalgic adventure remembering spree things we always go on? We found them!"

The excitement on Prompto's face was contagious, and Noctis couldn't help the grin that spread across his own face at the way Prompto's lips curved upwards on both sides, leading to dimples. Dimples that led to freckles. That was weird. It was the same smile that Prompto _always_ smiled, but it was hard not to notice that extra little detail this time. Alongside the fact that his eyes sparkled a little bit when he smiled, and the way his whole body seemed to be vibrating with energy. Different from the way Noctis' body had vibrated back at the mine in the grasslands. Better.

Quickly shaking that off, Noctis laughed an awkward laugh and nodded his head. "I remember," he answered.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Iris grinning wildly as she tapped Noctis in the forehead with her finger. "While you and Prompto are reminiscing on old crazy adventures and having super fun times, you think about what I just said, hm? Think about it and then remember that I'll be waiting for that-"

Cutting her off by making a face—one where he curled his lip and stuck his tongue out—he breathed a heavy sigh and shook his head. "You'll be waiting a long time, Iris," he insisted, before motioning with his other hand for her to leave the room.

Prompto had an eyebrow arched in confusion as he looked from Noctis to Iris, who laughed like a maniac as she left the room. "What was that about?" he asked, tilting his head in a weird mix of amusement and confusion.

"Nothin'. Iris is weird, you know that." Pausing, Noctis huffed a breath of laughter and then looked at Prompto, hoping that would be enough of an answer to keep his friend from asking too much more. "She's always trying to get me to do stuff that she wants me to do." That wasn't exactly a lie. She really did want him to confess to some weird romantic interest in Prompto.

Would it really be so weird, though? There was some truth to the fact that the pair of them were always together. That their friendship was different from the friendships Noctis had with other people. They were always together, and they never did things without trying to figure out how the other could be involved. They always talked to each other in the odd occasions when they weren't together. Noctis genuinely thought that he'd be lost if Prompto had just decided that their friendship wasn't worth the risk when he left Hammerhead the other day. Was it such a crazy concept, for Noctis to have feelings for Prompto?

Not that he _did_ or anything. If he did, though... it would make sense, wouldn't it?

Prompto glanced over his shoulder in the direction that Iris had wandered off in, and then turned to look back at Noctis again. "If it wasn't for her obvious crush on Crowe, I'd think she had a crush on you," he mused, laughing a soft note. A very soft note, followed by a clear of his throat as he flipped a page in the photo album in his hand.

Shrugging, Noctis shook his head no. "I think she did at one point, like... years ago. Back when she first started getting crushes on people and she hadn't met Crowe yet," he explained, walking over beside Prompto and glancing down at the photo album. "So, you found the photo album of the Vesperpool trip, huh?"

After blinking twice, Prompto nodded eagerly and held it out to Noctis. "Yeah! All the good pics," he answered.

It was pretty hilarious, looking at the pictures they'd taken that day. The trip was pretty fun. They'd realized that, all the times they'd ever been to the Vesperpool, they'd never actually been to the other side. All of the myths and stories explained that the other side of the Vesperpool was home to pre-Cataclysmic ruins. Old things that no one understood the purpose of. Giant winged metallic vessels, ruins of old buildings filled with overgrown foliage and some bits and pieces of rotted ancient furniture... it was something they hadn't been able to resist. So, they'd taken an old boat that they'd found abandoned, patched it, and crossed the Vesperpool in an ill-advised adventure. They'd had a field day over there. Exploring and taking home more than they could really carry.

Old and rusty picture frames, pieces of engraved stone that were written in a language that was close enough to modern Lucian for them to understand... so many interesting things that now sat in Noctis' bedroom, on his shelves, as trophies. Except the picture frame. Noctis insisted that Prompto take that, because of his love for photography.

The first of the pictures that caught Noctis' attention was of the pair of them. They'd set Prompto's camera on a tripod and on the beach, set the timer, then run into the middle of the giant ruin to pose for a picture like they were the only people in the world who had ever thought of going there. It may have been close enough to the truth, honestly. The ruins seemed mostly untouched. Noctis remembered it being hard to tell, because of how overgrown the trees and vines and whatnot were, and the level of decay that the buildings and whatever else they found had undergone, but it didn't matter to them at the time. They'd been too excited.

Some of the other pictures showed them smirking as they held up random pieces of whatever that they found. There was a piece of ceramic that Noctis was reasonably sure came from an old toilet, but Prompto was treating it like it was a gold coin or something, holding it high over his head and smiling like he was the king of the world. That picture made Noctis laugh in spite of himself.

"King of the World. More like King of the Toilet," Noctis teased, turning his head and sticking his tongue out at Prompto.

Scoffing, Prompto shook his head no. "It wasn't a toilet! I don't care what you say! It was... some kind of sculpture or something! Not a toilet!" He shook his head adamantly, but there was a little smirk on his face all the same, like he didn't care about being teased at the moment.

When Prompto turned his attention back to the photo album, Noctis kept his attention on Prompto for a few extra seconds. From the side like this, Noctis noticed a little bit more. The way the light in the room made his freckles shine a little bit brighter. The way the corners of his eyes had little laugh lines in them. The way his lips quirked upward when he smiled. They were all things that Noctis had noticed individually, sure. At the moment, though, they were all hitting him full force, and it was almost enough to knock him on his ass. Instead, he stayed on his feet, but he _did_ realize one very important, _vital_ thing.

Ignis, Iris, Gladio, Nyx... _everyone_ was right. He had feelings for Prompto. It was entirely possible that he'd had feelings for Prompto for _years_.

"Remember this?" Prompto asked, snapping Noctis to attention and pointing eagerly at another picture on the page.

It was a picture of Prompto holding a black chocobo feather. He'd found it amid the ruins, and he'd been so excited that he'd _instantly_ handed Noctis his camera and pleaded for a picture with it. As soon as Noctis took the picture, he'd begged to hunt for the black chocobo itself. They'd searched until they couldn't search anymore, but come up empty-handed, and spent the night camping out amid the ruins, under the stars. It was one of Noctis' fondest memories. One of the things he always looked back on and smiled when he was having a particularly rough day.

And now, it was just another tally on the board, pointing toward the fact that he had feelings for his best friend. With a soft, choked laugh, he nodded. "Yeah. I remember," he answered with a nervous smile.

As the pair of them continued to go over the photos, they moved to sit on the bed, laughed, smiled, and everything was back to normal. Suddenly, Noctis realized exactly how serious this situation was. If he wanted things to be normal—if things were ever going to _stay_ normal—he needed to find a way to crush this before it crushed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, the setting is... well, set! Time to start the Adventure! ;)


	7. Flight

_Look out for Noct, okay?_

Cor's words bounced around in Prompto's head as he sat in the observation deck of Gladio's airship. Look out for Noct. Prompto had promised that he would, and of _course_ he would, with or without a promise to Cor. It was something they always did. Honestly, after the incident a couple of nights ago, they'd just been all the closer. More inseparable than usual. They shared a bunk in Gladio's airship, and after they did the day's chores—whether that meant helping Ignis out in the kitchen or just something as simple as cleaning the crew common room—they spent pretty much every second of the time they traveled together, too.

This was one of the rare moments that they weren't together, and it was only because Ignis and Pelna, the crew's medic, were looking over the wound in Noctis' side. It left Prompto alone, looking out the massive window in the observation deck as they flew over the clouds.

It was funny. Normally, Prompto was terrified of being up high like this, unless it was some kind of crazy adventure that he and Noctis were on. Here, though, it was different. Part of it probably had to do with the fact that he'd been on this airship a hundred thousand times. Another part was probably the fact that he'd seen Cid and Cindy work on it a hundred thousand times, so he knew that it was in top shape. Whatever it was, it had him feeling completely and totally confident. Gladio's crew were pretty safe. Ignis wouldn't let them get away with _not_ being safe, honestly, so it wasn't a worry at all.

At that moment, Prompto was looking out over the tops of the clouds, smiling at the fact that he couldn't even see the ground beneath them. It was rainy and gloomy in Lucis when they took off. The rainiest and gloomiest in Insomnia. Up here, he couldn't even tell that rain existed.

The trip to Luna's bar wasn't _too_ far away. A couple of days on the airship, which meant that they were more than likely almost there. Prompto couldn't help but smile as he thought of seeing more of their friends again. A lot of the people they knew had moved out to Cauthess, because of the bar, and because of Luna's sanctuary. Considered outlaws by Lucian and Nifilian standards, they liked the Galahdan feel that Cauthess had taken on since Nyx, Libertus, and several other members of their group had moved there. It was the most mage-friendly of all of the cities in Lucis, Prompto knew that much, because Noctis actually felt at ease there. Lots of outlaws lived there, too—mostly people who were wrongly _labeled_ as outlaws; people who took a stand against the mistreatment of Lucian citizens under the Nifilian influence that the country seemed to be under—but there wasn't an unsafe feeling about it at all.

The unfortunate downside to that was that it was often attacked by mage hunters or mercenaries, sent out after either the outlaws or Luna herself. It was unfortunate, but they hadn't been successful yet. There was a vague awareness among them that Cauthess would be a little bit more at risk because Noctis was there. More mages commonly meant more of a target after all. No one cared. Prompto knew that every single person on this ship felt the same way. While Noctis and Luna were completely capable of defending themselves, the whole of the pirate crew—the whole town of _Cauthess_ , really—would fight tooth and nail to keep them safe.

_People can pry Noctis from my cold, dead, arms._

"Well, not literally," he thought to himself as he looked down at the clouds. "I don't think I'd ever die with my arms around him—hell, I don't think he'd let me put my arms around him while we were both _alive_ , actually—but it wouldn't come to that anyway." As he spoke, his breath fogged up the airship's observatory window. "Still. They'll have to go through me if they want to get to him."

Shaking that thought off, he cleared his throat. What was it with his brain, these past couple of days? Every time he had a spare second, he always found himself thinking weird things like that. Putting his arms around Noctis, or touching his hair, or staring at his smile... all weird things that he had thought of before but couldn't stop himself from thinking about now. It was getting harder and harder to ignore that part of his mind, but he always managed. No matter how hard that Iris or Gladio or Ignis tried to get him to acknowledge it. What good would acknowledging it do? Other than make things awkward?

Almost like he was summoned by Prompto's thoughts, Noctis' voice echoed through the room with a soft, half-amused chuckle. "Whoever said that doctors are s'posed to make you feel better, clearly never needed to have a gash in their side checked every day," he murmured from behind Prompto with a puff of breath. "Antiseptic is eventually supposed to stop stinging when they use it, right?"

Prompto turned toward Noctis' voice, laughed, then mused, "you know, some people just open conversations by just saying hi." He knew that Noctis wasn't 'some people,' but that was neither here nor there.

It was almost like Noctis read his mind. "You think I'm some people, you don't know me," he teased.

"I mean, you're a person, aren't you?" Prompto teased in return, smiling with his eyes, but shrugging his lip up to tease Noctis. "So... it should follow that to me, you're some people?"

Noctis scoffed, stepping up to the window beside him. The sturdy wooden cane he used (normally for 'aesthetic purposes,' though at the moment, it was getting proper medical use) clicked on the metal floor as he approached. When he arrived, he shoved Prompto in the shoulder, gently. "I'll keep that in mind next time you try and tell me I'm super special somehow," he teased, a good-natured smile on his face as he looked out the window at the clouds. "Been awhile since we've been on this thing. I kinda missed it." He smiled, turning to meet Prompto's gaze.

With a nod, Prompto smiled softly at him and then turned back to glance out the window. "Right? Wonder if we'll get sick of it, since we're gonna be here so often now. I don't think so, though. It was nice, being rocked to sleep last night by the air current."

Laughing sheepishly, Noctis nodded. "A little less nice because Gladio like, mocked us by putting us into that one room with the super small bed. When we get to Cauthess, I'll grab a bedroll and sleep on the floor until we can get to an actual city and I can pick up a bed or something." He stared out at the horizon, which was completely enshrouded by a puff of white clouds.

Yeah, it probably made sense. At the same time, though, it was really hard to complain about being 'stuck' in a small bed with Noctis, when it was the nicest sleep he'd gotten in a long time. Even better than when he slept on Noctis' couch, or in his bed. Unlike in Noctis' bed, they were forced into proximity with each other. The first night, they'd joked about one of them sleeping with their head at the foot of the bed, but they hadn't really gone through with it. They were both pretty thin, and Prompto slept on his side, so even though the bed was just a twin size, they still managed to sleep comfortably. Even _with_ how Prompto found himself latched onto Noctis' side.

What was more surprising was the fact that Noctis didn't seem to care. Prompto made sure that he slept on the side that wasn't trying to heal, and made a conscious—or maybe even a subconscious—effort to keep his arms or hands from brushing over that spot. Noctis slept on his side one night, too, to make even more space, but that night... they hadn't even needed it. They'd slept even closer. Each morning, they woke up and tried to play it off; to pretend like it wasn't a big deal or something. Like they hadn't totally been snuggled up to each other. Each morning, Prompto became less and less convinced that it wasn't on purpose. At least on his own part.

Because of that, he was almost loath to let go of the idea. "I dunno," Prompto finally admitted, staring bashfully out the window instead of allowing himself to look over and meet Noctis' eye. "I don't mind, really. I'm comfortable. And we should save our money for, y'know, buying the stuff we need for trying to hunt. Right?"

Noctis' voice was quiet, but Prompto could hear it loud and clear over the humming and thudding of the airship's steam engine. "Guess that's true," he mumbled.

"If you wanna, anyway. I mean, I'm not gonna tell you how to spend your money, obviously. Or how you should sleep. I'm just saying that you, uh... don't have to do it for my sake. I can think of like, a hundred thousand worse people to share a bed with than you." A pause, a clear of his throat, and a laugh, then Prompto added, "that sounds so weird, doesn't it?" in an embarrassed huff.

But Noctis' answer was a gentle, "nah. I agree." When Prompto dared himself to look back over, Noctis was smiling gently at him. "That's fine. I'll, um... I'll just spend my money on talking to some of the people in Cauthess and trying to get a tip on some keys, then. Maybe some vaults, too."

That was true. Vaults weren't always locked. Some of them were buried. Prompto was sure that they'd been onto something when they'd gone to the other side of the Vesperpool. Maybe they could convince Gladio to start there. With more eyes, they'd be more inclined to find more clues. And maybe the group of them could find that black chocobo. Prompto cast a sidelong glance at Noctis, watching as his friend smiled nervously down at the clouds that separated them from the rest of the world. Nerves made sense, honestly. He had more at stake in this part of the trip than anyone else on the airship did. Prompto was so in his own head, planning the hunting part of the treasure hunt, that he'd almost allowed himself to forget that the real reason for this whole trip was to get Noctis some training in learning to harness his powers.

Somehow, the incident in the mine seemed like it was a hundred lifetimes ago. Weird, since it was really only a couple of days. Noctis was doing a lot better, at least it seemed that way, and he and Prompto were closer than ever. His wound was healing. He seemed to be a lot more confident, knowing that Luna would help him. Prompto was excited to see what he was capable of, too, once everything was said and done. Knowing how to control his strength would make him all the stronger, and Prompto was just glad to be there for him. That Noctis had _wanted_ him there, after everything had happened.

"I heard from Loqi earlier, by the way. Apparently he's super pissed about the bad intel that his contact gave him," Prompto managed a soft chuckle, then shrugged his head to the side. "Told him that you pretty much decimated their whole mining thing, though, and he told me to do this." He reached out, patting Noctis on the back, just like his brother had told him to do.

Noctis laughed a little bit. "How is he, anyway? Last I knew, he and Ravus were working on some project together in Lestallum and-"

With a nod, Prompto explained, "they are. Ravus wants to see Luna, though, so they might come to Cauthess." It was exciting, honestly. He and his brother grew up spending all of their time together. Prompto had almost gone along when Loqi started traveling with Ravus a few years back, but Noctis had kept him from it. Not in a bad way, just... in a way that meant that he really, really didn't want to leave his best friend behind.

Smiling, Noctis nodded his head. "Good. It's been awhile since you've seen Loqi," he mused. "I'm sure you miss him."

"Sometimes," Prompto agreed, backing up a couple of steps and sitting in one of the chairs in the observation room. "Still don't regret my decision, though. Like, I'm really glad I stuck with you. Much as I miss seeing my brother every day, I, ah-" A pause, and he laughed awkwardly, scratched a hand through his hair, and glanced down at the floor as he finished speaking. "I think I'd miss seeing you every day more." It was spoken in a voice just above a whisper, and when he turned to look, he saw that Noctis was slowly and gingerly lowering himself into the other chair.

The smile on his face was a little bit sheepish, but he nodded. "Me, too. I mean," he relaxed in the chair, then glanced back out the window at the blue sky over the cushion of clouds. "Not just because you and I are pretty much like... the sky and the clouds..." He pointed out the window, "but because you're pretty much the one who keeps me from being a hermit."

Prompto snorted a laugh. "Now I'm imagining you with one of those big hermit beards and it's making me sad. Promise me you won't grow facial hair like that?" he teased.

Noctis laughed, too, and Prompto watched as the smile lit up his face. That... wasn't fair. People always told Prompto that he had a contagious smile or something, but that smile? The way Noctis' eyes crinkled a little bit and his lips curled the perfect amount? That really wasn't fair. "I promise. If that's what I've gotta do to keep you around, I'll-"

"I mean, I'd stick around anyway," Prompto admitted with a wry grin. "I'd probably just try and attack you with shaving cream and an electric razor every day."

They laughed for a couple of seconds, then fell into silence. Prompto wanted to say that it was a comfortable silence, and in a way it was. He didn't feel like either of them were uncomfortable in it, but Prompto was just... thinking. Thinking a lot. He swallowed nervously and turned to look at Noctis with a sidelong glance. Iris' insistence that they were stupid, that they needed to see that there was something 'more than friendship' between them, had never really bothered him before. It was probably stupid that one day spent away from Noctis, followed by the revelation that he'd almost _lost_ Noctis when the hunters had attacked him, was enough to make him re-evaluate that again. It was, though.

It was making him think about a lot of things differently, really. The way that, just as often as he was there for Noctis, Noctis was there for him. When Prompto got frustrated as they talked about memories, and the fact that Prompto had things about his past that he couldn't remember? Noctis was always there, reminding him that no matter what his past was, it made him into the person he was that day, and that the person that he was that day 'should be celebrated.' Prompto wasn't sure about that, but Noctis seemed sure. Noctis, in fact, refused to entertain any other option. It was crazy, though, to think that after all this time having a crush, there could be 'more than friendship' between them.

A part of Prompto considered what they already _had_ more than friendship. It felt like it, anyway. They were friends, of course they were friends. Prompto would never make that feel like it had any less than the importance that it did, but he also kind of felt like they were so much more than that. Prompto needed Noctis to get through his day. Prompto liked the feeling of being needed that he got _from_ Noctis. Sometimes, he would joke that it was probably a little bit less than healthy, their dependency on each other, but he didn't really mind it at the same time. It was better than healthy. It was them. It was _theirs_. Did Noctis need him the same way he needed Noctis, though? Or was that just him wishing it that way?

Dragging him from his thought process, Noctis' voice echoed through the open space of the observation room. "You think Luna's got our usual room ready for us?" he asked, glancing over at Prompto through a curtain of dark hair.

Prompto breathed a gentle breath of laughter, then ticked his shoulder up in a shrug. "Even if she doesn't, we can always just crash hers and Nyx's place. It's pretty much only theirs by name." They never went home. If they weren't in the bar, they were always in the sanctuary. Sometimes he thought that Luna only kept the place just in case they got visitors or something.

With a shrug and a nod, Noctis murmured. "Hey, while we're there. When I'm not training, I mean, and we're not canvassing the area for leads? Do you wanna like... have a night where we camp out in front of the TV and watch cartoons, or maybe go for a walk around Cauthess, or maybe like... go up to one of the rooftops and stargaze-"

"Yeah!" The answer was probably a little bit too quick. Definitely a little bit too quick. To Prompto, though, the words sounded like an invitation for a date, and while he wasn't sure exactly what Noctis was thinking; while he wasn't sure if Noctis _meant_ it to sound like a date or just like the pair of them hanging around like they always did? Prompto wanted to think that, maybe, it was a date. "Stargazing, though. We camp out in front of the TV all the time. Stargazing will be really fun, after a walk. Maybe we can have Iggy make us some food, and picnic or something... or..." He trailed off, feeling his cheeks heat up. Or, he could _not_ hijack his friend's idea.

Noctis grinned and nudged his shoulder. "Stargazing it is," he insisted. "And Iggy can make us something, or we can order pizza or Gahladan food. Whatever those weird dishes that Nyx and Luna serve at the bar are."

Prompto smirked. "It's a date," he agreed with a nod. And then, after the ticking of two seconds, he realized exactly what he said, and he could almost feel the color drain from his face, only to be replaced with a deep shade of red. A date. He'd meant it in the way that people always said it when they made vague plans, but... stargazing and a picnic? That _did_ sound like a date, didn't it?

Just as Prompto was about to backpedal and apologize profusely, Noctis turned his head down toward the floor, nodded once, and them repeated, "a date," in a hushed tone.

A date. A _date_. That was... weird, but also the only thing Prompto wanted in the whole entire world, pretty much? So, he swallowed nervously, turned to glance at Noctis, and then asked, "a _date_ -date? Or... just a date in the way that people say it's a date when they're trying to come together about plans? Because I mean... if you mean a date-date, then it'll change the way I... y'know, plan for it. And if it's just a 'it's a plan' date, then I'll totally feel less like I need to talk and talk like an idiot and... you know, probably stop looking like a cherry tomato or something..." A pause and a breath of laughter, and Prompto turned to look at Noctis hopefully. He tried not to _look_ too hopeful... but he was.

Noctis shrugged, laughing a laugh that Prompto had only heard him give when he was nervous, and then tilted his head to the side. "I... I mean, it depends on what you want." He bit down on his lower lip and then turned to look at Prompto finally.

When Prompto caught his gaze, he saw the light pink flush on Noctis' cheeks and couldn't help but laugh, too. Okay, that was a cop out answer, if Prompto had ever heard one in his life, but he couldn't be mad. Mostly because his question was sort of pathetic, too. "What kind of cop out answer is that, Noct?" he asked, making a face at his friend.

"A cop out answer from someone who's a little bit nervous to ask you if you want it to be a date or not." This time, the answer was less of a cop out.

But that didn't mean that Prompto was prepared for it. He just laughed a couple of times, then glanced over to the window, and out at the clouds. "I mean... part of me wants to say yes. I do want it to be a date. The rest of me, though, is kind of worried about what happens if we call it a date and then it goes bad. What happens then, you know? Do we pretend that it wasn't a date and that we just had a bad time hanging out?" Not that Prompto foresaw that happening, ever. Even with just stargazing and pizza, it was impossible for them not to find _something_ fun to do to pass the time.

Noctis shrugged his head to the side. "I mean... I kind of..." He paused, then laughed, then continued. "I kind of want it to be a date..." Now, he wasn't meeting Prompto's eye anymore. He was staring down at the floor, at his boots, and scuffing one of them on the metal airship floor.

That was _very much_ not the answer that Prompto was expecting, but he couldn't find it in him to complain. Instead, he just shrugged his head to the side, tried to play nonchalant, and replied, "then it's a date..."

This was simultaneously comfortable and uncomfortable. Prompto wasn't sure what he expected, honestly. A part of him expected for the confession of the fact that he wanted a date with Noctis to be weird, somehow. Uncomfortable or something. Like putting a quick stop and tone change to the record that was their friendship. As he sat there, smirking coyly at Noctis and sharing a silence that wasn't even close to as uncomfortable as he expected it to be, it didn't feel weird. Not at all, actually. It felt natural somehow. Like they just took a step that they were supposed to take. Prompto wasn't sure how he felt about destiny or anything like that, but he _was_ sure of the fact that, whether or not this date was a good idea, he and Noctis wouldn't change. Noctis would still be his favorite person in the world.

"I think we're supposed to feel weird," Prompto admitted. "I keep trying to feel weird, but... it's you. You know? I can't feel weird when it comes to you, because you're... you." Because, even if things _did_ go wrong, Noctis was Noctis and there was no way that things would ever be ruined between them. "Does that make sense at all?" he asked.

When Noctis nodded, Prompto wasn't even surprised in the least. "It's how I feel, too."

In spite of himself, Prompto had to laugh a little bit. And in further proof that things really _weren't_ weird, when maybe they were supposed to be, Prompto slid a little bit closer on the small bench that served as the relaxation area in the observation room. He wasn't quite pressed against Noctis, because he knew that this was the side where Noctis' wound was, but he was close enough to feel the warmth radiating from his friend's body in gentle waves. "Did Ignis and Pelna tell you how this is doing, by the way?"

Maybe it was normal protocol to ask for more info about the date. When it was going to be, what, exactly, they were going to do... things like that. Prompto knew, though, that Noctis wasn't the type of person to make plans like this and not follow through with them. He wasn't worried. Things could just be normal, until they got to Cauthess. Things would be normal even _when_ they were in Cauthess, probably. So, that meant that things stayed normal right then.

Noctis nodded, sliding a little bit closer to Prompto, too, and draping his arm gently over Prompto's shoulders. "Yeah. Specs is kinda mad, actually. He kept pointing out that I called it a grazing shot over and over again. You know? But it was. I mean, it wasn't like the dagger was stuck _in_ me. It just grazed me. Like..." He leaned over Prompto's body just slightly, with movements that were a little bit slow and a little bit ginger, and pointed at Prompto's side. "Right here," he pointed at a spot on Prompto's jacket, and then traced his finger along the line of where the wound was. "And you know how battle adrenaline can be. It feels like nothing."

Battle adrenaline. Prompto thought back to all of the times in fights where he ran almost completely on adrenaline alone. Times when he would get things thrown at him, bullets shot his way that Luna would have to heal after Pelna took them out... times when Noctis would get hurt, or when Loqi would get hurt-

Loqi would get hurt? Prompto blinked a couple of times at that thought. Had he _ever_ gone adventuring with Loqi the same way he did with Noctis? For some reason, his mind was telling him that he had. Thinking back, though, as far as he could remember before memories started getting fuzzy and disappearing, Loqi had been the one who supplied Prompto and Noctis with leads. He never went with them on their adventures. An old injury—a shattered kneecap that never wanted to heal properly—kept Loqi from running around and keeping up with Prompto and Noctis like he probably wanted to. As much as Prompto tried, he couldn't really remember exactly how it happened, and he could never convince Loqi to _talk_ about it with him, but...

Now that he was thinking about it, it was almost like he could remember a time _before_ it happened. Where Loqi—a younger Loqi, a fast runner and the strongest person that Prompto knew—was the one that gave _Prompto_ trouble keeping up. It felt like a distant memory. Almost like some kind of dream. At the same time, though... it felt like reality.

That was why Prompto hated thinking about the past, honestly. He knew where he was born, he very clearly remembered coming to Lucis, but everything—legitimately everything from when he was a very young child to when Cor found him starving in Lestallum with Loqi—was a giant blur. Prompto remembered tiny bits of his childhood, mostly memories with Loqi. When Loqi would read to him, when Loqi would teach him to shoot, when Loqi would make up stories to tell him because they didn't have any books. It wasn't like he didn't remember _anything_. But... so much of it felt like watching a movie.

So much of it felt like watching a story about someone else's life. Looking in from the outside, rather than a memory from his own head. No matter how many times he tried, he couldn't get past that point.

More than anyone else, Noctis saw him at those moments. It made sense, honestly. The amount of time the pair of them spent together, it made complete and total sense for Noctis to always be the one who ended up seeing him like that. It would come at the randomest times, with the randomest words. Battle adrenaline was a new one. It wasn't even like it was the first time he and Noctis had _talked_ about battle adrenaline. Many of the times they'd come out of a fight by the skin of their teeth, they talked about surviving on adrenaline alone. So, why was it resonating so strongly this time?

Noctis was tilting his head to get into Prompto's periphery, and only when Prompto met his eyes did he slowly lower himself so that he was sitting on the bench again. "Prom? Another memory?"

Of course Noctis would recognize that face. Prompto huffed a note of bitter, empty laughter, and shook his head no. Well, maybe a flat out no was an overstatement. "I mean... maybe," he corrected. "I'm not... I don't know, honestly. It feels like this should be something that I _can't_ remember, though, because it... I don't..."

A comforting hand found Prompto's and grabbed hold of it, lacing their fingers together like some kind of knot. "Take it easy," he urged. "Slow down a little bit and think about it, y'know? Don't force it. Isn't that what Specs told you?"

Prompto turned his head and looked at Noctis, then nodded, and glanced back down at the floor. Yeah, that was what Ignis said. Take it slow and think about it. Don't force it. Which, in theory was great. In theory, not forcing unpleasant things was a good thing, a good idea, something Prompto wouldn't mind doing. When that something that he felt like he needed to force was his memory, though? When there was _so much_ of his memory that was completely gone; completely blank? When the parts he did remember were blurred to the point that he didn't feel like he remembered it as the person it was happening to? Then it felt a little less like 'take it easy' and a little more like 'please remember or it will drive you insane.'

For all the doubts that Prompto had about how _good_ it would be for him to remember, he didn't like having questions about himself. He didn't like not knowing who he was or why he was who he was. What he liked the least was the fact that he was pretty sure that Loqi was hiding answers from him. That Loqi knew, and wasn't telling him for one reason or another. Loqi had the same bar code on his wrist that Prompto had. He had to know _something_ about it, didn't he? He'd been a lot older when they'd escaped Niflheim. Prompto, of course, was well over the age that he should have remembered every detail about the place. Because of this memory block, though, he never did.

With a frown, he shook that off and nodded, his eyes locked on Noctis'. Noctis was right, of course. Forcing himself to remember never worked. He never remembered anything and he always drove himself insane trying. So, instead, he breathed in a deep and heavy breath, nodded once again—a single, resolute nod this time—and then put a smile back on his face. That was how he dealt with it, honestly. Smile until the smile became honest.

"Honestly, Noct. Most of the time, I don't know what I'd do without you."

Noctis chuckled softly, squeezing Prompto's hand and shrugging a shoulder. "The same thing I'd do without you, probably," he chuckled softly. "Good thing I never plan to let you find out, huh?" He released Prompto's hand, draping his arm back around Prompto's shoulders and tugging him in gently.

With a half-smile, Prompto nodded and nestled against Noctis' shoulder. "Me either, dude," he promised. And that was a promise he intended to keep, no matter what happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >_> Teeny tidbit there... ;D


	8. Congregate

There was something homey about Luna's bar. Noctis wasn't sure what it was, really. Maybe it was the fact that so much happy always seemed to happen here. Or maybe it was because of the fact that everyone always got together here one way or another, no matter what else was going on. Whatever it was, Noctis couldn't help but smile as he leaned against the bar and watched Luna talk to a couple of customers a few feet away. Prompto was a little ways down the bar, chatting with a couple of treasure hunters and trying to canvas the conversations for leads. Sometimes, people didn't take too kindly to things like that. Especially not other treasure hunters. It was likely helping that they were in Luna's bar, that Gladio was with him, and that Nyx was standing a couple of feet away with his arms crossed and watching everything take place.

Noctis was curious about the conversation, but he was laying low, sort of. Mostly because if things ended up escalating toward the physical, he still wasn't completely healed from the injury to his side, and would probably be a liability. Plus, Ignis had forbidden him from getting into any kind of situation that might develop into physical violence, and Pelna had insisted that he only needed to wait a few more days, which was fine. He could wait. If he had no choice.

For now, he drank his stupid non-alcoholic beverage and smiled as Luna turned from the man she'd just been serving to stop in front of Noctis again. Honestly, he really admired how brave and open his friend was. She had markings all over her body just like Noctis did—sylleblossom blue, as opposed to his dark purple—but she didn't hide them. She wore sleeveless shirts, skirts that showed the markings on her legs in the front... she didn't really seem to have any problem just being public about things. Maybe it was because of how much kinder people here were about things like that.

Not for the first time, Noctis considered moving out this way. Though maybe not. He was enjoying his time on Gladio's ship, and enjoying planning to stay there for the foreseeable future. Living a nomadic lifestyle wouldn't be so bad. Noctis could get used to it. Especially if he got to live with so many of his friends at the same time.

Luna's smile grew as she wiped a spot on the bar, before hanging the towel up and leaning forward. "You appear to be lost in thought, Noctis," she mused, placing her elbows on the bar and putting her chin in her hands. "Are you anxious to start training tonight?"

Yeah, that was definitely not inaccurate. Huffing a soft note of laughter, he nodded his head and smoothed a hand through his hair. "Little bit," he confessed, "but that's not what I'm thinkin' about." He took a sip of his soda and then set it back down on the counter. "I'm just thinking about being on board Gladio's ship with his crew. How awesome it'll be having so many of my friends in one place, you know? Being with 'em all the time, and... and not feeling like I have to hide myself every day." Whether he liked it or not, that was what he was doing in his house, on the days when he and Prompto weren't out hunting. Hiding out, to avoid people and avoid scaring them.

She nodded her head and gathered Noctis' glass, refilling it and then sliding it back over to him. "I'm slightly relieved to see you out and about as well," she agreed. "And even more so that you finally took me up on my offer to help you learn your power." She met his eye, then glanced down at the runes on his hands.

Noctis' eyes followed hers, and he nodded his head. "I'm a little bit nervous," he admitted with a sheepish laugh.

"Don't be," she insisted, waving it off with a nonchalant hand in the air. "I trust you, and we're going to start small. Much like your father did with you back in the day."

Part of Noctis wanted to just... start now. He knew that she couldn't until Crowe got back from delivering a message to Cor for Prompto and could take her place behind the bar, but it was still nerve-wracking, waiting like this. He puffed a breath out and watched Prompto and Gladio laugh along with the hunter they were getting their tips from. A part of him wondered when Loqi would be getting in from Lestallum. It would do Prompto some good to see his brother, Noctis suspected. Ever since that memory flash the other day, Prompto had been very focused on the past. It sucked, seeing him try to remember. Seeing him thinking back on times before they'd met, and struggle to come up with anything but hazy memories of things that he wasn't even sure he _wanted_ to remember. He tried still, though, and Noctis honestly understood why. He couldn't even begin to understand what it must have felt like, missing huge parts of memory like Prompto was. Sighing, he shook the thought off and glanced back up at Luna again.

Except, in typical Luna fashion, his friend was watching him expectantly. She, like Ignis, always seemed to know when Noctis' mind was focused on something else. She always seemed to pick up on it, and was always there with a question. This time was no different. She gathered up a second glass—a wine glass this time—for herself and filled it halfway. "What's on your mind, Noctis?" she asked him before taking a sip.

"That obvious, huh?"

She laughed and nodded her head. "Generally speaking, when you look at Prompto, and there is anything other than happiness on your face, there's definitely something on your mind. And usually, it involves him." Turning her head to look at Prompto herself, she chuckled a gentle note and then glanced back at Noctis. "So, why don't you share, hm? Make it a touch easier on yourself."

Noctis wanted to be upset about that, wanted to tell her that she was wrong, but the fact remained that she wasn't. "You know about his memory flashes, right?" he asked her.

All Luna did was nod.

"He had another one yesterday," Noctis explained as he took another drink from his glass. "And he's been trying really hard to figure out where it came from. Where _they_ come from. What the memories are, I mean. You know? He can never really get there. It's like someone's dangling a carrot in front of him, but he can't reach it, and it's really bumming him out. I want to help, but since the memories are all from before we met, I... y'know. Can't." That made it that much more difficult, but he didn't really want to point that out, especially not with Prompto in earshot. Prompto didn't mind Noctis talking to Luna about the memories, but about his frustration was probably another matter entirely.

Luna hummed thoughtfully. "And Loqi won't talk to him about it?" she asked, her eyes broadcasting her disapproval of that fact.

Shaking his head no, Noctis shrugged and tapped his fingertips on the table. "It's not like he's doing it to be a dick, I don't think. I just... I think he doesn't want to remember it? From what I know, their lives weren't exactly easy before Cor found 'em. Like, they were homeless, weren't they?" He ticked his head to the side as he met Luna's eye.

The fact of the matter was that Luna probably knew more than Noctis about things like this. Not only was she more familiar with Loqi and Prompto's past, because of her close friendship with Loqi through Ravus, but she was also a bartender, so she probably heard it from Loqi in _that_ respect, too. Noctis knew Loqi well enough. They were friends, and Loqi really appreciated the friendship that Noctis and Prompto had—he always called Noctis the 'best influence possible on Prompto for a hundred thousand reasons' or something like that—and because of that, Noctis knew how much of a barfly Loqi was. Whenever he was in town here, he was always a mainstay at Luna's bar. Actually, he'd stay from open to close. He didn't always drink. Sometimes he played pool, sometimes he just sat and talked to the patrons. Even though he was bristlier than Prompto was, they shared the same chatty demeanor. So, it wouldn't surprise Noctis if Luna knew everything about him.

"They were," Luna agreed. "Living in Lestallum, under the awning in front of the potion shop, if I remember Cor's description correctly. They didn't trust Cor at all at first. They were terrified of him, and thought that he was going to take them back to Niflheim for some reason. That's all I've ever been able to get out of Loqi before he just... closes down and changes the subject in his usual way."

Noctis just hummed softly. "I wonder if there's any way we can convince him to be honest with Prompto..." he thought aloud, tapping his fingers against the counter again and glancing up to meet Luna's eye. "Because he wants to know, you know? He doesn't want..."

She nodded. "He doesn't want blank spaces. No one does. I can understand that," she agreed, glancing over at Prompto again.

This time, when Noctis followed her gaze, Prompto looked back at them and tilted his head in a silent question. His hand went to his face, feeling around like he thought he had something that he needed to wipe off, and then he turned to look in a nearby window and search for it. That elicited a laugh from Noctis, and he turned to look back at Luna with a half-smile. "Well, whatever it is, it can't be that bad. I mean, he's Prompto. Y'know? What could _he_ possibly have in his past that's bad?"

Prompto was, sometimes almost literally, the sunshine of Noctis' day. The bright spot. The thing he looked forward to the most. If there was anything 'bad' about him, it was that he was too good. Simple as that. Luna's responding smile didn't quite reach her eyes, but she nodded all the same. "He is quite fortunate to have you," she pointed out.

"Not as lucky as I am to have him." And that was a simple fact. "I, um... I asked him on a date." Honestly, Noctis didn't know what possessed him to tell Luna that. She always got too excited, and if she knew, that meant that everyone in their circle would know. That was okay, though. Maybe this time... Noctis wanted everyone in their circle to know.

The way Luna's eyes widened to almost double their normal size, the way the smile spread across her face, told him that he was right to assume that she'd be excited. She reached a hand across the counter and placed it on his shoulder. "You did? You _finally_ did?" she shook his shoulder just slightly.

Noctis nodded.

Her smile went from soft to triumphant as she turned to glance at Gladio. "I knew it! _Gladiolus! You owe me five hundred gil!_ Oh, Noctis, you just made me a _very_ wealthy woman. Where is Ignis? He thought it would take much longer..." she announced as she looked around the bar for Ignis.

"Wait... what?" Noctis asked, blinking a couple of times and then looking over his shoulder at where Gladio was turning toward them, dragging Prompto in their direction in a headlock. "What do you mean I made you a wealthy woman?"

Luna paid him no mind, instead opting to turn her attention toward Gladio and holding her hand out in a gesture to ask him for money. "Five hundred," she insisted. "These two have a date. And it's _before_ the end of the year. I believe the terms you gave were 'if they don't cave by the end of the year,' which it seems like they did. Where is Ignis? He had next spring, I believe, and he owes me fifteen hundred. Crowe, too, owes me a substantial amount." Pulling a pencil from behind the bar, she started adding on a small sheet of paper.

Beside him, Prompto just blinked a couple of times, then turned to look at him in surprise. "You told her, huh?"

Noctis laughed softly, and then nodded his head. "Though, I uh... I didn't think..." He paused, then turned to glance back at where Luna was doing her math. "I didn't think they, y'know, _bet_ on it. You're not mad, are you?" he asked, smirking a nervous smirk at Prompto.

Shaking his head, Prompto draped his arm over Noctis' shoulders. "Couldn't be mad at you if I wanted to, I don't think. Besides, um... it's not like we've got anything to hide. Right?" Now, his tone was sheepish. He had a little bit of red in his cheeks, and his smile went a little bit shier as he slid onto the stool next to Noctis.

Before Noctis could even answer, Luna announced: "eighty-five hundred! Between all of you, I just made eighty-five hundred gil!" and turned her head to look at Noctis and Prompto. "You guys made my night! You two and Nyx are the only ones who don't even owe me a penny!"

"Why, Nyx bet on us getting together now, too?" Noctis asked.

From a few feet away, Nyx laughed and shook his head no. "I didn't bet at all, actually. If I know anything about Luna, it's that you don't bet against her in situations like this. She's got this way of always picking the right side, even if it's something she should have no way of knowing." He walked up behind Noctis and Prompto, took each of their heads in his arms, and pulled them into a headlock from either side. "Congrats, you two. Maybe Luna should give you half of her earnings for your date, huh?"

Luna perked up from behind the counter and nodded her head yes. "That is a _fabulous_ idea! I think, for overcoming that ridiculous song and dance that you've been doing for as long as we all can remember? You've earned more than half. You can have all of it, if you wish. As long as you use every penny for the date that made it possible." She slid the five hundred gil that Gladio had given her, as well as the two thousand that she'd just gotten from Ignis, across the counter.

"Truly. The pair of you couldn't wait a couple more months?" Ignis asked, and though he was trying to sound exasperated, there was a tiny little smile on his face that showed that he wasn't really all that mad. That, probably, he was proud of them.

With a shrug, Noctis countered, "it's just a date, Specs. Not like we're getting married." His cheeks were deep red. "And you don't have to do that, Luna. We were just gonna, y'know, hit the rooftops and stuff." He was tempted to share his stargazing idea, but that was a little bit too much detail for a group of friends who seemed so intent on betting about when they 'finally came to their senses,' as he heard Gladio telling Prompto. That was enough to coax a heavier blush out of Noctis, because it more or less meant that Gladio was revealing to Prompto exactly _how long_ they had thought this was going to happen, but he guessed that was okay.

Again, Luna slid the money across the counter. "Then use it to get a nice meal and have a picnic up there. I would say that the pair of you have earned it, with how long you've been dancing around each other," she insisted.

Libertus just chuckled. "Was gonna offer to make 'em some Galahdan food for free, but..." He smirked at Luna.

"Oh, for the love of..." Luna rolled her eyes. "I am _trying_ to give the rewards to the people who _truly deserve_ it. You know, the ones who are the reason you're all _giving_ me these ill-gotten gains?" Despite her exasperation, there was a smile on her face that made Noctis smile in turn.

Shrugging, Noctis turned to glance at Prompto, about to suggest that they take Luna up on her offer and use the money to try and buy some good tips on vaults or something, but he saw his best friend's attention on the road outside instead. Noctis followed his gaze, and he allowed a tiny half-smile when he saw a vehicle pull up in front of the bar. Familiar. One of Cid's cars. Just when he focused on it—a dark purple runner, with black trim and a red interior—he heard the seat next to him move and Prompto started dashing across the floor of the bar to get outside.

Even the talk of money wasn't enough to distract him from his brother's arrival. From the other side of the bar, he heard similar movement when awareness of the situation seeped into Luna's brain, too. She jumped the bar, and all Noctis saw was a flourish of white dress as she dashed through the bar and out the door, leaving a couple of her backup bartenders to do the work for her. He supposed, it was her bar. And they were trained. So, it didn't really matter.

Slowly, Noctis pushed himself down from the bar, gathering his cane from where it rested in front of him. Everyone else had already rushed out the door, and Noctis couldn't help but laugh as he glanced around the bar. Everyone who _wasn't_ in their inner-circle looked confused at what the commotion was, but that made perfect sense, honestly. A group of however many of them there were, eagerly rushing out of the door like a mob after a celebrity or something? It had to be a hilarious sight. Noctis glanced over at the man that Prompto and Gladio had been chatting up for tips, and tilted his head to the side when the man narrowed his eyes slightly at Noctis.

There was no way he could see Noctis' runes, of course. Noctis had his cloak on, and a pair of gloves. Even so, he had to be _somewhat_ mage-friendly, if he was willingly in a mage's bar. Luna was known to have Nyx or Libertus kick people out if they showed any sign of anti-mage tendencies. It probably wasn't the best for her business, but it was what she did. Her business never suffered, anyway.

When Noctis turned to look at the group outside, and started to walk toward them again, he saw Gladio glancing through the door at him with his brow furrowed in concern. "Everything alright, Noct?"

Noctis nodded, pushing past whatever he thought he'd seen from that guy, and finished shoving the money that Luna had given him into the pocket of his cloak. He'd go into the Cauthess Underground and ask about tips on vaults or any sort of treasures that people had found. Later. Not now. Now it was time to go and see Ravus and Loqi.

As soon as he stepped outside, it was impossible to fight back a chuckle at the way Prompto had latched onto his older brother. It was easy to forget how long the pair went without seeing each other sometimes. Loqi, who walked with a cane—less for aesthetic like Noctis did, and more for actual necessity, because of some injury to his knee that he'd had for as long as Noctis had known him—had dropped it and was being hugged and propped up by an eager and excited Prompto. Iris was next to them, reaching down to the ground to pick the cane up and hand it to Noctis.

To the left of Loqi and Prompto, stood Ravus and Luna. Ravus was hugging Luna loosely, but Luna had no such qualms about hugging Ravus. She was practically dangling from him, hugging him excitedly and telling him that, "you _must_ come visit more often, dear brother. I have missed you so. Have you given any consideration to moving to Cauthess? I know that you-"

"We move around a lot," Loqi reminded her, in a grunting voice as he accepted the cane from Iris, and used it to support himself when Prompto released him from the hug.

Luna sighed and nodded. "I know," she replied, a little bit dejected. "But I think you two could be quite successful here! Loqi, you would get far more reliable intel here, and you could make so much money with the tech you make! Ravus could help out at the bar, and you could see Prompto much more often! Whenever he comes to town!"

Now, Prompto was nodding eagerly at the thought of his brother being around more often. "Gotta admit, that sounds kinda awesome, Lo. It's been, like... nine hundred years since I've seen you," he admitted, turning his attention to Ravus and latching on to the taller man in an eager hug. "Hi, Rae." He smiled when he released Ravus.

Ravus sighed. "How many times do I have to request for you to call me Ravus?" he asked Prompto with a sour expression on his face.

"Shut up, Rae," Loqi told Ravus with a wry grin on his face. "You're Rae and Prom's allowed to call you that if he wants. Same _can't_ be said for the rest of you, though. I hear anyone other than Prom and Lu call him Rae? I'm takin' you down personally." Even though he was ranting and raving like a moron, he had a grin on his face that belied his words.

With a smirk, Noctis asked, "even me?"

Exasperation didn't even begin to cover the look on Loqi's face as he nodded in reply. " _Especially_ you," he answered. 

Noctis huffed a laugh, and then stumbled a little bit when he felt the impact of Loqi's hand shoving him in the shoulder. "Sorry my lead was shit, by the way. Didn't know it was bandit town or anything. Probably still would've sent _you_ , but not Prom." The smirk on Loqi's face showed that he wasn't serious, not that Noctis really needed it anyway. "You okay?"

"Don't shove him, Lo. Couple of bastard hunters got him. Hurt his side pretty bad," Prompto seethed, his lips forming into a thin line. "I swear to the gods, if I could just get rid of all the damn mage hunters-"

As Prompto continued his tirade against mage hunters, there was a moment of tension in Loqi's expression. His jaw set, and if Noctis hadn't been looking, he would have missed the moment where Loqi's hand went to his wrist to rub at the top of it. It was a simple gesture, not obvious or anything, and most of the people around them didn't even notice it. Ravus did, and so did Noctis. In response, Ravus wrapped an arm around Loqi's shoulders, and then turned his head to glance Noctis' way. There was a layer to his expression that Noctis couldn't quite read, but it was telling him that, maybe, he should try and pull Prompto from his tirade.

So, he did. Stepping forward, Noctis shoved Prompto gently in the shoulder and knocked him into Gladio, who also shoved him lightly. It succeeded in stopping his angry rant—which entailed exactly what he was going to do to all the mage hunters who came after Noctis from here on out—and laughed a soft note as Prompto looked between the pair of them with a truly offended expression on his face. "What was _that_ about? I tell him not to shove Noct and then the pair of you turn me into a ping pong ball?" He tried to sound mad, but his voice was a little bit whiny, in that way that it got sometimes when he wasn't _really_ mad.

Noctis was still looking at Loqi out of the corner of his eye, as he hobbled around the car to get into the back and pull out a massive bag that sounded like it was full of metal. It looked heavy as hell, too, and Noctis had to fight a little bit of laughter as he handed it off to Ravus, who easily lifted it with his synthetic arm.

"You're about the _size_ of a ping pong ball, Pipsqueak," Gladio teased.

Prompto made a face and then turned to look at Loqi. "So, what're you workin' on, Lo?" he asked his brother, as he crossed the short distance between them and picked up the second bag from the back of the car.

With a shrug, Loqi answered, "a security system for Lu's bar. Been workin' on it for a little while now, actually, and since we were all meeting up here, I figured this was as good a time as any to push that project to the forefront." He gathered a third bag—smaller than the ones that Prompto and Ravus carried, and more than likely _belonging_ to Ravus—into his arms and put it over his shoulder.

As the group of them walked into the bar, Noctis met Ravus' gaze. The man looked mildly concerned about something, Noctis wasn't exactly sure what, but he walked beside Loqi and had his free hand—the synthetic one—wrapped in Luna's. A part of Noctis wondered how strange that felt. It was probably insensitive. Probably wasn't nice to think. He knew that Loqi had made Ravus' arm—that was actually how the pair of them even _met_ , if Noctis was remembering correctly—and made it to actually pick up the sense of feeling and send it to Ravus' brain. No matter how many times Loqi explained how it worked, Noctis didn't understand. He was impressed, though.

It probably would have made more sense for the group of them to follow Loqi and Ravus back to where they were staying, but Loqi made a very dramatic announcement about how badly he needed a "godsdamned shot of hard liquor," and so the group of them deposited Ravus and Loqi's bags behind the bar, and all sat down—completely taking up the whole bar—to get a drink.

"Caelum," Ravus called, while Prompto and Loqi were too busy catching up over a round of some sort of liquor that Noctis had never seen before.

Noctis knew that Prompto drinking probably wasn't a good idea. It wasn't the _first_ time he'd had booze, obviously, and Luna was all about bending the rules for them when it came to things like this, but Noctis was pretty sure now that tonight was going to end with him holding Prompto's hair back from his face as he vomited. That was fine. Noctis would do it. He'd deal with that later, though.

At the moment, though, his attention drew back to Ravus, and he raised his chin in greeting. "'Sup, Ravus?" he asked.

Standing from his bar stool, Ravus smoothed his flesh-and-bone hand through his long, white hair and beckoned with Noctis to follow with the synthetic one. "A word, if you will."

A part of Noctis wondered exactly what this was about. He and Ravus weren't enemies by any stretch of the imagination. No one on this group really had a hard time with anyone else, so it wasn't like he was bothered by talking to Ravus alone. He was Luna's brother, Prompto's friend, and was always someone that Noctis knew that he could trust. Still, they didn't really talk one on one very often. Mostly because they didn't really have a whole lot in common. Noctis didn't really make a big deal of it, though, just slid off of his barstool and followed behind Ravus. Whatever Ravus wanted to talk to him about, it was important enough for him to want to pull Noctis aside.

Enough to make Ravus want to pull Noctis aside, and guide him all the way down into Luna's sanctuary. Noctis hadn't been down here in a long time. Mostly, it was just a small hideout for wanted mage sympathizers. There were beds and a small medical corner, that Noctis had seen in use several times. People on the run from mage hunters, whether they were mages themselves—not exactly likely, since there was only a handful in the world, and he and Luna were two of them—or people who had unnecessary bounties on their head for sympathizing; for cavorting with mages or people deemed dangerous. The sleeping area was a little bit stark, but Luna made sure to make it seem somewhat like a home; somewhat comfortable and safe for anyone who needed to use it as a refuge. There was a bathroom with a shower, a refrigerator with food, and all the other little things that people used to get through their day.

Ravus immediately strode to the middle of the room and turned to glance at Noctis. "I have a bit of a concern, and since it pertains to you and all of your friends, I wanted to bring it to your attention. Initially, my instincts told me to bring it up to Scientia or Amicitia, and I still will. However, you need to know it as well."

"What's-"

"Let me finish," Ravus insisted. His tone wasn't angry or sharp, it was more of an interruption to tell Noctis that he wanted to get all the information out at once, Noctis figured. "The person that Loqi usually gets his intelligence... there are concerns about him. After the situation the other day that ended you up in the Scourgerock mine, Loqi had every intent to call and reprimand his contact for putting you and Prompto in such danger. The problem there, of course, is that his informant seems to have either dropped from the face of Eos, or stopped responding to his calls."

A pause, where Ravus looked Noctis square in the eye, and he continued. "I find this to be highly suspect, personally," he announced plainly.

Noctis blinked a couple of times. "Do you... does _he_... have any idea where his informant is based out of?" he asked.

Again, Ravus seemed to go silent, to get lost in thought, and he glanced down at the carpeted floor of Luna's sanctuary. "No," he answered simply. "It's a taciturn man with brown, short-cropped hair. Older, just slightly. He has quite a few mechanical enhancements. That's neither here nor there, though, because if my suspicion is correct, we have a feeling that he knows where Loqi gives his information, and is intending harm to you and Prompto."

The very second Ravus voiced his suspicions, Noctis' eyes shot open like a snapped elastic band. He blinked dumbly. "B-both of us? I mean... _me_ I understand. But _Prompto_?" he asked.

For a second, Ravus' expression fell, and it looked like there were words right on the tip of his tongue. He pulled them back, though, and instead said, "sympathizers are often seen just as harshly as mages themselves. Sometimes worse. I have lost count of the times that I've been persecuted just for having Lunafreya as a sister," he spoke, the vitriol—the outright _hatred_ —in his tone taking Noctis off guard.

"Do you think I-"

Ravus cut him off with a hand in the air and a shake of his head. "If you are going to jump to the asinine suggestion that you think that you should cut Prompto out, I am going to stop you right there and tell you exactly how ridiculous that is," he spoke plainly, shaking his head no. "No. Loqi and I have discussed this at length, and we intend to ask Gladiolus, Iris, and Ignis if they will allow us passage on their airship, so that we can look into this further; so that we can look around Eos for this mysterious man, while the pair of you continue your treasure hunting. Loqi is hesitant to warn Prompto of this, for reasons that I-" A pause- "that it is not my place to disclose to you. I intend to press that issue a bit on my own time, but for now, I thought it prudent for you to be aware." He took a seat in one of the chairs.

So, not only did he have all of this new information—that both was and wasn't completely mind-bending—but he had to hide it from Prompto? Noctis blinked at Ravus a couple of times. "I don't know if I can keep this from Prompto."

There was a bit of a knowing glint in Ravus' eye, and he huffed a soft breath of laughter. "I suspected as much," he admitted, "which is part of the reason why I told you. Loqi may be angry with me, but if I, let's say, insisted that you not tell Prompto and went back on your word..." His tone was conspiratory, and the glint in his eye matched.

Oh. So that was why Ravus told him. "Yeah, okay," Noctis answered simply. It would probably make Loqi mad at him, but honestly, if someone was after them, Prompto needed to know about it.

"I will ask that you not do it around Loqi, however."

Noctis nodded. "I mean, duh," he snorted a laugh.

Again, Ravus smiled softly. "I will also ask that you request for Prompto to keep the information from getting back to Loqi. We will look into things, perhaps with Ignis on our side, and you and Prompto may continue to go about your business as normal," he finished, standing from the chair and placing a hand on Noctis' shoulder.

A little bit risky, but it made sense, if they wanted to keep it from getting back to Loqi; wanted to keep him from getting suspicious. Noctis nodded his head and smiled at Ravus in understanding, and then Ravus smiled—a rare sight—and reassured him. "We'll get to the bottom of it, Caelum. I promise."

They would. Noctis believed him. And maybe, as they did, Noctis could ask Loqi to help Prompto with his memory issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little later than usual! I apologize! Had a rough couple of days. :(
> 
> MORE TIDBITS! Had to get 'em all together before... y'know, stuff started happening. ;D


	9. Spinning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mild warning: there is a drugged drink in this chapter.

"Your friend is a mage, then?"

Prompto wasn't sure who this man was or when he'd gotten here, but he'd encouraged Prompto to fill up his cup with some of the booze behind the counter and insisted that Luna wouldn't mind, since they were friends. Normally, Prompto would have at _least_ questioned that, but by that time, he was already feeling a little bit silly. The atmosphere, maybe? Prompto wasn't sure, but when the man in the hat made the suggestion, he had felt like he _absolutely_ needed to jump the counter and get a drink. His movement hadn't exactly been as swift as Luna's had earlier when she spotted Ravus, but he'd jumped it all the same. Even if he'd almost knocked a row of bottles over. He hadn't. That was what was important.

Now, though, for one reason or another, Prompto was divulging information to this hat-clad stranger with feathered burgundy hair. Information that he normally would have kept to himself. He just nodded his head, a bob of affirmative answer as he looked to his right, fumbled for the bottle of whiskey, and then turned back to his left to refill his glass.

The whiskey didn't really taste good, but it _did_ seem to have him twice as drunk as he usually would have been after two glasses, so he couldn't find it in himself to complain at the moment. Instead, he tipped the cup back, laughing a soft note at the feeling of the cool liquid dripping town his chin and onto his throat. He reached a hand up, wiping away the moisture with his sleeve, and then turned back to look at the man in the hat.

Nodding again, he answered, "uh huh. Real strong, too," as he lifted his cup and took another drink.

With a hum, the man glanced down at his own drink, downing half of it in one swig. Prompto's hazy mind decided that it was pretty impressive. "Mages are quite rare nowadays," he admitted.

Prompto couldn't help but feel like it was a little weird for him to say that, especially since there were white markings on his hand that looked almost like Noctis and Luna's runes. Almost, but a little bit different. Weirdly different, almost like they were written in a completely different language than theirs. Prompto hummed a soft note, then looked back up at his face, and even in his advanced haze of drunkenness, he found that to be more unsettling than the runes themselves. The man's eyes were _sort_ of similar to Noctis', but they were an eerie shade of yellow. Not the calming shade of blue that Noctis' were.

Even in spite of that, Prompto couldn't help but spill more information. Why, he didn't know. But he couldn't help it. "There's two of 'em here, actually. Downstairs. Luna's helpin' Noct train, since he's got a bit'a trouble controllin' one of his powers. There was a thing at a mine a couple days ago," he explained. "So he's tryin' to work on it so he can come adventurin' with me again. We're vault hunters, y'know? Gonna find treasures from before the Cataclysm and be _bazillionaires._ "

"I'm certain fortune will find you, yes," the man answered, but there was a weird layer to his tone. Like it was one of those deals with the devil; one of those situations where he was crossing his fingers behind his back. It wasn't like he was promising anything, though.

Prompto nodded. "My brother's lookin' for leads right now. That's him over there. He's had a bit'a trouble findin' good ones until now, but I know him. He won't send us anywhere bad like that again. No more mines with weird purple rocks," he explained.

As soon as the words escaped, though, Prompto found himself wondering exactly why he'd spoken them. How could he just spit out Noctis' secret like that? The man finished his drink in another quick swig, and Prompto blinked, looking down at his own glass. There was a little bit left. He could probably try and do that, too, couldn't he? He lifted his drink, putting the glass to his lips and then tipping it back as he tilted his head. As soon as the liquid touched his lips, though, and then hit the back of his throat, he felt a harsh impact from his left—from where the man was sitting—like the man had bumped him in the back with his elbow. It made him choke and sputter on the booze, cough an unnecessary amount.

While he coughed, the man kept talking nonchalantly. "Well, dear boy. This has certainly been a very enlightening conversation," he mused in a singsong voice. "I do hope that your friends aren't too cross with you for sharing what you shared with me. They'll certainly understand though. Your... enhanced state of inebriation likely made it _quite_ difficult to keep the truth from coming out, hm?"

Prompto still sputtered, and he turned to look at the man, who was brushing off some nonexistent dust from the top layer of his many coats. He tipped his hat, ignoring Prompto's coughing fit, laughed a gentle note, and then in a sweeping gesture, turned on his heel and turned to walk away without another word.

The coughing finally subsided, and Prompto cast his eyes around the bar, trying to figure out exactly what had happened. Exactly where the man had gone. Prompto hadn't seen him go for the door, _or_ the door to the basement, but that didn't mean that he hadn't gone either direction all the same. He guessed it didn't matter much. It wasn't like he was hurting anyone. The only problem, really, was the fact that Prompto _still_ had no idea why he'd been so open and divulged so much random information to a complete stranger like that. Even _that_ was hard to worry about, though, when he felt the pleasant swim of booze making him teeter a bit in his chair.

Prompto was drunk, simple as that. Prior concerns forgotten, Prompto decided that his most pressing concern was the fact that there was no one sitting there and talking with him. There were several groups to choose from, he just needed to pick one!

He wasn't sure where Noctis went, but the last time anyone saw him, he'd walked out the front of the bar with Ravus or something like that. Or maybe it was Pelna, since Ravus was sitting a little ways away, playing the piano with Ignis. He wasn't sure. Except, Pelna and Nyx were having an arm wrestling contest on the pool table, their laughter echoing throughout the bar. It was only then that Prompto's hazy mind realized that the bar was completely empty of everyone but their group. Had Luna kicked everyone out or something? Or had they all just left because... Luna was gone?

Wait, no. He _did_ know where Noctis was. He'd just told that stranger. Right? So... why couldn't he remember it now? Oh! That was it! Noctis was doing his training thing downstairs with Luna.

Nodding with that affirmation, Prompto stood from his bar stool—his stumbling legs betraying him and making him place his hand on the counter to steady himself—and then stood up straight to find out where his brother had gone. Who was Prompto even _drinking_ with? He glanced at the bar, paused, and realized that the stool next to him was empty. How long had he even been drinking alone? No, no, there had definitely been _someone_ there. Someone he didn't exactly recognize from any of their groups, but someone all the same. The man was tall, had burgundy hair, and a creepy grin, and he'd had _dozens_ of questions about the bar, about Luna, about Noctis...

Somehow, that concept was hilarious to him as he placed his hand on the bar to walk down and find Loqi. He was a couple of yards away, a little ways past Pelna and Nyx, chatting with Gladio about _something_ that Prompto couldn't quite hear from here. And then, in a flash, Gladio was closer. Prompto stumbled a little bit, and Gladio caught him with an arm across his chest, looking at him in concern.

"Easy, Pipsqueak. You alright? Lookin' a little bit unsteady-"

Before Gladio could finish his sentence, Loqi was at his side, though. His cane was abandoned to the counter, and he favored one leg to the other as he brought both hands up. One went to Prompto's forehead, the other to his wrist. "Prom, are you alright?" he asked.

Prompto nodded, though it was a little bit dizzying. A little more dizzying than usual, actually, which was weird. He hadn't had _that_ much to drink. Maybe two? Or three, he wasn't exactly sure. "M'fine," he answered Loqi. "Drunk. Real drunk, actually." He laughed, then hiccuped softly.

Over Loqi's shoulder, Gladio's brow furrowed in suspicion. "Don't think anyone behind the bar'd let you mix your own drinks if you showed signs of bein' this plastered," he pointed out, then turned his head to look at Loqi, who had moved a little ways down the bar.

"Yeah, no. Asked 'em specifically to cut him off after one, actually," Loqi answered as he picked Prompto's cup up. "Besides that, Lib and Pel were handling the drinks, and they've been busy over there with Ulric for the past I don't know how long."

Again, Prompto shook his head no. "I made 'em m'self," he answered, and were he sober enough, he'd have realized that he sounded every bit the part of a proud five-year-old who had just tied their shoes for the first time. "Th' guy with the hat kept tellin' me that I didn'' need anyone to make me drinks, so I went over the counter to get 'em for m'self and... I dunno what I made but I feel _funny_." Funnier than usual. Dizzy. A little bit weird. Tired, maybe.

When Prompto looked at Gladio, he was surprised to see Gladio's brows furrowed together in surprise. "Guy with a hat. Couple of us have hats, Prom. Ulric's got a hat. Pel's got a hat. Pretty sure I don't see anyone else with a hat, and neither of them would've told you to go over the bar and make your own drinks," he answered, but even as he did, he looked from Nyx to Pelna in a silent question. Asking them if they _had_ suggested that.

"Wasn't them," Prompto insisted. "Don't remember his name. Just told me that I was old enough to make my own drinks, then started askin' questions 'bout Noct and Luna and-"

Somewhere over the course of the conversation—Prompto wasn't sure when—Ignis showed up at his side, and was feeling his forehead, but as soon as Prompto mentioned that the man was asking questions about Noctis and Luna, his expression froze. Then, just as quickly as it froze, it morphed to horror. "What did he ask, exactly?" The tone in his voice wasn't angry, but it was weird. Not his usual. Scared, almost.

As Prompto tried to remember the questions that the man asked, he squinted at Ignis and Gladio as their faces blurred just slightly. "Don't... I... don't remember," he mumbled. "Wh-why don't I remember? I..."

Loqi's voice caught his attention, as he made a disgusted noise. "Okay, who in the fuck was the guy in the hat? There's something in this drink, and it's not booze. I can smell it," he seethed, turning to look around the bar. "It wasn't Ulric, and it wasn't Khara, because they were right there the whole time. Wasn't _any_ of us, I'm pretty sure. None of us would do somethin' to Prom's drink." That, Loqi sounded sure of.

The situation turned into a lot of commotion for a couple of seconds, and Prompto found himself struggling to focus on anyone around him. It was frustrating, and Prompto wiggled against where Gladio's arm held him in place, bracing himself on the counter instead. He shouldn't have been this wobbly, and he definitely shouldn't have felt like he was going to fall face flat even now. He did, though, and it was really annoying.

"What's in his drink?" Ignis asked.

Loqi shrugged his shoulders. "Just doesn't smell like it's supposed to," he answered. "Like, it smells alcoholic, definitely, but there's a _different_ kind of alcoholic smell in there, too. Like there's something else mixed in there. I'm not sure. I'll take it with me, check it out and see if I can figure out what's in it, but I..." He shrugged his shoulders and then approached Prompto. "Prom, stop being stubborn," he snapped. "Let Amicitia help you, and we'll take you back to the ship, and-"

Prompto shook his head no, then huffed an annoyed breath at how dizzying the motion was. He shook Loqi off. "Where's Noct? Want Noct..."

"Caelum is in the sanctuary with Luna, Prompto," Ravus reminded him. "Though I suppose someone should go and get them-"

Before anyone else could move, Crowe had stepped away from where she and Iris played cards in a corner and then hurried toward the basement. "On it. You guys just get Skinny somewhere safe, okay?" She fished in her pocket and Prompto saw the blurry visage of her pulling a key ring from her coat. Before he even realized she was moving, she'd vanished down into the basement.

Prompto turned to look at Loqi, who was looking at him with his eyelids drawn down in concern. "M'fine, Lo. Just dizzy and-"

"Shut up," Loqi replied, trying to balance Prompto on his own and then making a face when he couldn't. Probably couldn't balance himself on his own, even Prompto's drunk brain realized. "Amicitia. Either one. Need you to carry his drunk ass back to the ship, alright? He's gonna fight you, 'cause he's a complete and total whine-ass when he's drunk and doesn't get his way, but just remind him that Caelum is on his way and-"

With worried eyes, Prompto turned to look at Loqi. "You're not comin' too?" he asked.

For a second, a tiny flash of guilt rose up in Loqi's eyes, but he shook his head no as he placed a hand on Prompto's cheek. Around Loqi's wrist area, he felt the familiarity of the buckled wristband that Loqi wore brushing against his cheek and shivered a little bit against the chill. Prompto remembered that the cuff covered Loqi's own bar code—one that matched Prompto's exactly, save for a few numbers—and even though he tried, his drunk mind couldn't process that even a little bit. The bar codes, the lack of memories... everything was a jumbled mess and his drunken—potentially drugged—mind had him stumbling even further into Gladio's grasp. Gladio lifted him easily, and Loqi squeezed his hand.

"Gonna go figure out what the hell's in this drink, Prom. And then I'll be right to the ship, okay? Tell everyone." Loqi turned to Ignis, murmured a couple of gentle-but-sharp words to him, and then gathered Ravus as the pair of them took the back exit out of the bar.

Suddenly, a feeling of worry and dread started to settle in around the fuzziness in Prompto's brain. Loqi and Noctis were his anchoring factors, when Cindy and Aranea weren't around. Neither of them were there, and along with the hazy cloud of booze wracking his brain came a fresh cloud of anxiety. Prompto wasn't fond of the uncertain. So much, right then, was uncertain. Noctis wasn't with him, Loqi wasn't with him either, he might have been drugged, but he was _definitely_ drunk, and he couldn't remember who the guy he'd just been talking to was, or even where he'd went. Had Prompto even seen him leave?

As Gladio and Ignis led him back to the airship, Ignis called his attention and smoothed some hair from his face, removing his goggles and his hat. "Prompto. I need you to recall," he spoke gently. "What did you tell the man who told you to get your own drinks? About Noctis and Lunafreya?"

Thinking back, trying to cut through the haze, Prompto blinked a couple of times and scrunched his face up. "Think he kept askin' if they were mages and what their powers were," he said, the unsettled feeling in his stomach growing a little bit larger. That wasn't something he'd normally tell _anyone_ , let _alone_ someone who he didn't even know... but he'd told the man with the hat. "An' he kept askin' about... think he asked me about the hunt we just went on to the grasslands." Another hiccup. "Asked me 'bout Noct's power flare and what happened to the guys who attacked us and..." And something else. What else?

"And he asked where I was from too, I think..." he murmured. "'Bout where I came from before I got to Lucis." That was even _more_ troubling, because while Prompto knew, he would _never_ tell _anyone_ outside of his circle. But he'd told whoever this guy was.

Pausing to think about the man again, the unsettling feeling in Prompto's stomach multiplied. "Feel like I know him," he added. "Dunno how, because I don't _recognize_ him or anything, but it feels like... I dunno, he looks _familiar_ to me, an' I have no idea how. Why can't I... why'd I tell him all that stuff?" His eyebrows furrowed, and he turned to look at Ignis helplessly.

It was Gladio who answered instead, though. "Probably has to do with what he put in your drink, Pipsqueak," he pointed out.

Prompto frowned. "S'that why I feel so shitty right now? 'Cause I don't feel this bad when I drink, and..." And right then, he felt like he couldn't even think straight.

Where was Noct? He needed Noct there. Just having Noct around could always ground his brain, no matter what else was going on. Hadn't Crowe gone to get him? So, why wasn't he here yet? Prompto looked around Gladio, throwing him off balance and almost making him drop Prompto to the ground, but managed to catch a glimpse of the hazy front door to Luna's bar. No one was coming out. How long had it been? Where was Noctis? Prompto frowned and kept his eyes trained on the door to the bar until they got around the corner and he couldn't see it anymore.

"Is Noct coming?" Prompto repeated. He probably sounded like a broken record, but he didn't care at all. He needed Noctis.

Ignis nodded. "Noctis wouldn't leave you, Prompto, don't worry. We just need to get you to the airship and to safety first, okay? To where whoever put that in your drink can not hurt you anymore," he insisted, placing a hand on Prompto's shoulder as the two of them stopped, and Ignis pulled down the staircase to get them into the airship.

Normally, just being here would have been enough to comfort Prompto, as all the lights turned on and the familiar surroundings worked their way around the haze that was his vision, but the whole situation was dawning on him instead and making him realize exactly how wrong it was. Not only had someone put something in his drink... but someone had put something in his drink, and then asked him questions about Luna and Noctis. Questions that, under any normal circumstance, he never would have answered. It was almost like they were trying to find a way to hurt Noctis...

And the worst part was that he couldn't remember everything that he'd said. A bit of tension worked its way through the muscles in Prompto's back, as Gladio set him down on the bed in the airship's med bay. Pelna wasn't with them, but that was okay. Ignis was there, and he immediately set forth looking Prompto over. "Do you feel ill at all, Prompto?"

"Just feel drunk," he responded. He felt drunk, and he wanted Noct there with him.

Ignis nodded, then frowned. "I suspect that if he'd put anything _too_ harmful in your drink, you'd be unconscious by now. Do you feel any pain, or any discomfort?" he asked.

With a shake of his head, Prompto turned to look at the door, waiting for Noctis to appear in the room. "No. Just... like a really, really strong drunk. Like I drank five more of whatever than I actually did." His speech was slurred too, and he sounded like a total idiot.

Frowning, Ignis motioned for Gladio to move toward the sink. He heaved a sigh and nodded his head. "Alright. Do you feel tired at all?"

Yeah. Yeah, Prompto felt tired. Like he wanted to fall asleep right there. He nodded his head, then closed his eyes sharply at the way that it swam when he moved it. This was stupid. This was really stupid. And he really just wanted Noct or Loqi there with him. When he opened his eyes more, though, his vision swam twice as strongly. He could see the vague outline of Gladio a couple of steps away from Ignis, holding a glass of water in his hand and walking toward him. He could see the vague outline of Ignis, too, where he leaned forward and tried to support Prompto—tried to keep him from falling—but his balance failed him at the same time as his consciousness did. Over he toppled, from the opposite side of the med bay's bed and onto the metal floor. The last thing he heard before his consciousness faded was a chorus of Ignis and Gladio's worried voices getting a little bit closer... and then a lot further away.

_In his dreams, he was standing in the middle of a city that felt oddly familiar to him. Familiar was weird, because Prompto didn't **remember** being here. The buildings around him were composed of cold metal, the ground solely of harsh stone. It looked almost like a place from all the books he'd seen about the old world. About pre-Cataclysmic times. He was looking down at a scene in a dingy and dark back alley. Four people stood in conflict. Two children, two adults. The oldest child—he looked almost like Loqi, but a younger version of Loqi—was on the ground behind the younger, who sat holding a pistol up to a man who was easily four or five times their senior._

_Whoever the old man was, he stood with his hands in the air like he was trying to surrender. His eyes were mocking, though. Chiding. Like he didn't think that the boy holding the gun would actually shoot him. He was almost laughing. Behind him stood another oddly familiar man, with long and feathered hair, **burgundy** hair, and a hat drawn down over his eyes as he watched the scene._

_The children didn't seem to be sure who they were more afraid of._

_One of the children felt **extremely** familiar to Prompto. The one in the back really did look **exactly** like Loqi. A younger version of Loqi, almost exactly like the way he remembered Loqi looking in his earliest memories from Lestallum. The child in the front, though—the one holding the gun—looked even more familiar than the Loqi-looking one. It felt strange, like even though he was in a dream, he was actually **outside** of himself, possibly… looking at himself?_

_Could it be possible that the child in the front was him? The boy definitely **looked** like him. Like a slightly chubbier, slightly younger him. Prompto knew that, as a child, he'd been a little bit heavy. Loqi had always told him that as they grew up, as they practiced shooting together and whatever else they did, he started shedding weight and growing into himself. Could this possibly **be** him? Prompto would remember being in a situation like this, though. In a **place** like this. And **especially** holding a gun out on someone._

_Like someone had hit the start button, like someone was holding a remote out to this scene in front of him, everything snapped from a freeze-frame image and into action. The young child—Prompto was almost sure it was him—had trembling hands pointing the gun, trying to steady it as he aimed it at the balding man, who was simply retorting with a chiding laugh and a shake of his head._

_"You won't do it. You knew that it was only a matter of time before we found you. Why **else** would you have not left the city? Isn't that right, 0-1-2?" The man craned his head, looking around Prompto and at Loqi, who was sobbing._

_Prompto—the present Prompto—turned to look at Loqi now, who was sitting on the ground and crying in agony, with his leg bent in an unnatural way. His knee almost looked flat. That... Prompto knew **that** much to be true in the real world. Loqi's knee had been shattered for a couple of years after they got to Lestallum. It only started to heal a little bit after Cor took them in and got them both to a doctor. Now it was synthetic, but the damage done to Loqi's nerves was too severe. The doctor seemed sure that he'd never walk normally again. He remembered the doctor telling Cor that it was likely that Loqi's knee had been flattened when it was injured._

_Was this the night that it happened? Was this the night when... the night that Prompto couldn't remember?_

_The old man turned his attention back to Prompto again. "And you, 0-1-6. You are consistently a problem. Just like your brother unit, no matter how much mental conditioning we try to put you through, you never seem to take to it." A pause, during which he laughed and shrugged his head to the side, and the man continued. "How do you ever expect to be a successful-" There was a second when his speech blurred, two words, at least, "-and support your brother with his new injury, if you can't listen to what we tell you? Holding a gun to your handler? Seems reckless, even for you."_

_Behind him, the man in the hat laughed softly. "He won't shoot. And even if he does shoot, there is no way that the pair of them will escape the city. Or the country. We'll be able to get them back," he pointed out. "Worry not, old friend. Nothing has been lost that can not be regained."_

_It seemed like that was all that the child version of Prompto was willing to take. With a shout that rang out through the dark alley, the deafening sound of a gunshot followed just shortly thereafter—_

And before Prompto could see who he hit—if he hit anyone—his eyes shot open and he sucked in a sharp gasp. Slowly, he blinked into awareness and the realization that he was in the med bay of Gladio's ship. In reality. The dream was over now, wasn't it? The room was quiet, though the lights were blindingly bright in his eyes and he squinted against them for a couple of seconds. He wasn't moving, wasn't being pleasantly rocked into sleep by the airship's motions, so he figured that they were still in Cauthess, still somewhere near Luna's bar. Slowly, he sat up, and then blinked again when he looked down at the chair next to his bed.

Noctis. Sleeping. Of course he was. It was almost enough to make him laugh, but that dream...

Prompto looked down at his wrist, where he knew the bar code was, and swallowed thickly. He tugged back his sleeve, pulled down his glove, and looked at the harsh black marks that showed so clearly against the paleness of his skin. It looked like a whole mess of numbers and nothing else, sure, but at the very end... that was what caught Prompto's attention. 016. The same numbers that the old man in his dream had called him by. He blinked, smoothing his fingers along the raised bumps that composed the crude tattoo on his skin, and furrowed his brow.

It _was_ a dream, wasn't it?

Swallowing thickly and looking around the room, Prompto suddenly came to the realization that he had a splitting headache. If he didn't know that he'd been drugged the night before—if he didn't have the vague memory of the fact—then, maybe he would have allowed himself to pass it off as a hangover or something. It wasn't, though. Or maybe it was. If it was, though, it was way more severe than some sort of booze hangover. It was a hangover from whatever drug that the man in the hat-

_The man in the hat!_

The man in the hat in Prompto's dream was the _very same_ man in the hat that he'd seen at the bar. Honestly, Prompto wasn't sure how he knew. He hadn't seen the man's face in his dream, so there was no way that he could _really_ know, honestly. As far as he knew, they were just a pair of people who had similar hairstyles or something. Still, there was something so uncanny about his presence, even _if_ he was just a dream version of himself. Prompto didn't remember much about his time at Luna's bar the night before. He _did_ remember, though, that even as the man in the hat encouraged him to jump the bar and get a drink, there was something unsettling and creepy about his appearance. About the way he'd looked at Prompto. About the way he'd _asked_ about Noctis.

Prompto's eyes turned to look at Noctis as soon as his name entered Prompto's mind. The man had seemed... really interested in Noctis. It was really weird. The only reason that Prompto could possibly think of for him to be _that_ interested in Noctis were the white markings on his hands. Wait, did that mean he was a mage?

Unable to hold back a low grunt, Prompto placed his hand on his head and heaved a heavy sigh.

It was then, though, that Noctis awoke. Prompto wasn't sure whether it was the sound of his groan or something else entirely, but he woke up and was on his feet in a heartbeat, placing a hand on both of Prompto's shoulders and pulling him in for a hug. As upset as Prompto wanted to be—as much as he wanted to tell Noctis that his head hurt and that a hug was just making it worse—it wasn't true. Just being pressed against Noctis like this was making him feel a hundred thousand times better. Though Prompto wasn't sure where it came from, he felt himself trembling a little bit as he curled a little closer to Noctis' chest. He closed his eyes and choked back a pathetic sob.

"Noct... I-I'm so... I'm so sorry..." he muttered.

Noctis muttered something—probably trying to reassure Prompto that it was okay—but Prompto didn't hear it. Instead he leaned in tighter, relaxed against Noctis' tightening arms, and cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't _intended_ to bring him in so soon, but...
> 
> YOU KNOW HOW IT IS SOMETIMES.


	10. Frenzy

It was really weird, how much easier it was for Noctis to control the black hole here. It... was really easy. Luna's first suggestion was for him to make a black hole as small as he possibly could, and she dropped a rock onto the floor, suggesting that he not even make it large enough to _take_ the rock. So, that was what Noctis did. He made the black hole small. Very small. About the size of a coin. And it was easier than he ever thought it would be. The rock didn't fall, the hole didn't grow unexpectedly, nothing unusual happened. It was... weird.

But good. A good kind of weird. Luna watched him for a second, and Noctis looked down as the runes on his hands glowed, then the glow faded quickly into nothingness. Quicker than usual for that, too.

She paused to ponder it for a second, before pointing to the rock again. "Okay, this time I want you to take the rock, but slowly," she told him, sitting down in one of the chairs and crossing her legs at the knee. "Try and mold the black hole exactly to the size of the rock, so it's almost as though you're depositing it into something it was meant to be deposited into."

That was a little bit weird, and Noctis had only ever tried once to manipulate the shape of the black hole as well as the size, but with something so small, he had to hope that it would be easy enough for him to backpedal and stop the hole from growing too much more. So, with a nod, he glanced down at the rock and started with another coin-sized black hole. It was barely visible outside of one edge of the rock, and Noctis made it grow, expand in some places and shrink in others, until it was a perfect fit for the rock on the floor. The rock fell down into nothingness, and Luna stepped forward, glancing down into the black hole in surprise.

"I see," she answered. "So, you can cause it to spread at your will. Useful, if you can learn to harness it."

Noctis was a little bit surprised, though. Why wasn't it going haywire like it usually did when he used it? Like it had at the mine and like it had back when his dad died? It wasn't. It was simply on the ground, a small rock-shaped black hole that led down into nothingness; into the nowhere. Noctis was even able to keep it in place as he stepped forward, and he smiled a little bit because of it. It wasn't a happy smile, more of a nervous-but-surprised smile, as he turned his head to glance at Luna. "I'm... I'm a little bit surprised. The only other times I've used this power, it's gone crazy."

Except, as he thought that, he realized that it wasn't exactly true. "Well... not every time," he amended in surprise as he stared at the black hole. "It... it didn't happen at my house, either. When, y'know... when the hunters came after me." He'd been able to control it. Fit it to his hallway like he was to the rock right then. That was weird.

With a thoughtful hum, Luna nodded her head. "So you're able to control it when you're in a space like this, but when it comes to caves and mines, you're not. Was there anything particularly out of the ordinary about the mine? Anything that can't be said about the cave?"

"Well, I mean... it's outside," Noctis started. "But I don't think that had anything to do with it. Dad had me practice outside a couple of times, too, and I managed to get it right there, too. Temperature isn't really a factor. Maybe..." Quietly, he pondered it for a couple of seconds as he tried to think back to the mine; about what he and Prompto had encountered there. There were the generators and the weird dust that Prompto used on them, but it wasn't the first time he'd used that dust, either. Noctis had seen him use it before. He'd never _touched_ it or anything, but... all he could think of was the fact that it was purple. The same shade of purple as...

As the rocks in the mine. The purple rocks. Noctis' eyes shot open like he was waking from a deep sleep, and to his surprise, the small black hole he'd been holding open snapped closed. The same suction from the cave made a small pop echo out, and Luna jumped to attention, blinking a couple of times. "The rocks! There were these weird purple rocks, Luna. In the mine, I mean! I can't believe I didn't think of this before now, but every time I touched the rocks, my runes glowed, and I wasn't even doing magic. It was like someone was zapping me with an electric shock, and then when I tried to make the black hole, it all came out and went insane..."

With brows furrowed, Luna tapped a finger on her chin and walked over to the counter, picking up a small folder. She emptied the paperwork from it and then dropped it to the floor. "So, you touched this rock, and you felt the magic energy building up in you?" she asked, pointing to the folder like she was silently telling Noctis to try and engulf the folder.

Noctis nodded, glancing down and making a small black hole appear underneath the folder. "Was that what it was?" he asked. "Magic energy?"

It made sense. Of course it did, really. Noctis knew that he could occasionally charge up a warp, and the charging energy felt much the same as the way the buzzing in his system had felt when he'd made that black hole. So, yeah, it was completely reasonable that he'd been charging magic energy. More than reasonable, really. But then... why had the rock made him charge with magical energy? Just touching it had made him feel like he was going to burst at the seams with it. The questions formed in his mind as he made the black hole grow until it overtook one side of the folder. He reigned it back in, then continued on the other side, until the folder fell into the nothing.

"I suspect you had some inkling of it, Noctis. Your runes wouldn't have been glowing for no reason, correct?" she asked, watching as the folder disappeared and then stepping back to sit in one of the chairs again. "A little larger this time, and with no form to take. A three-foot circle."

At first, all Noctis did was blink at the rapid change of topic, but when Luna looked at him expectantly and crossed one leg over the other, he realized that this was part of the training. Holding a conversation and using his magic at the same time. So, he turned to glance at her for another quick second, and then turned down toward the ground where the rock and the folder once were. Slowly, he started at the size of a coin again, but Luna stopped him by standing and placing a hand on his arm.

She told him, "start larger this time, please. More than the coin-sized hole, and start from the size of the folder," with a secure smile on her face like she believed in his magic abilities somehow.

While she did, though, he wasn't so sure. So, he raked his teeth over his lip, but then glanced back down at the ground. Despite his reservations, he did as she directed and put a black hole the size of the folder on the floor. It didn't seem to be out of his control, and as he started to warp and stretch it a little bit, he heard Luna's voice echo out through the room again.

"Now, you had to have some inkling that something wasn't right with your magic, correct? That the rocks were doing something, because it isn't as though your runes would glow purposelessly," she continued their conversation from earlier, her eyes down on the floor where the black hole swallowed nothing in particular, but continued to grow in size to the point that Luna told him to stop. There was no surge of power, no danger. Nothing weird. Just a hole in the ground. This was... really weird, but then again, what about his power _wasn't_ weird?

Noctis nodded in response to her question. "I didn't know what it was, though," he admitted, biting down on his lower lip. "I probably should have told Prompto about it, but-"

Waving that off, Luna pointed down at the floor. "Make a second smaller hole, close to the first one," she directed, before continuing to talk. "Whether or not you should have told Prompto is irrelevant. You didn't, and that's okay. That's your situation to deal with, and with the two of you, I've no doubt that you will, or already have. What's more important is... Noctis, do you recall back when your father died? The cave that he took you to?" Her eyes were off the floor, but on Noctis.

As Noctis made the second black hole appear on the ground between him and the first one, he nodded his head. "I mean, yeah," he answered. "I couldn't forget it. Why?"

She relaxed on the bed and met his gaze. "Do you recall any of the rocks in the cave?" she asked him.

Ah. He knew where the conversation was going now, and he trailed into silence as he tried to remember Malmalam Thicket and the cave that his father took him to that day. It was difficult. It had been a few years, and a lot of it, Noctis purposely avoided thinking of when he was conscious. Still, he tried to think back. All he remembered was the massive black hole that took over the floor of the cave, though, the breaking rock, and being stuck in the cave alone with his dying father for almost two days while they waited for Uncle Clarus and the others to get there. So, raking his teeth over his lip, he shook his head no.

"That was... it-"

Luna shook her head and smiled a comforting but sad smile at him. "Don't fret too much, Noctis. It's completely reasonable that you wouldn't want to remember it, and I apologize for making you think about it. I just thought that maybe it would help you come up with an answer about the rocks. However, I think one way of getting to the bottom of it would be to _go_ to the Malmalam Thicket and see if there are any of those purple rocks there." She paused for a beat, then continued. "That is to say, I would wager that it wouldn't be _easy_ for you to go there. Ignis or Loqi may go for you, but-"

Still focusing his magic on the black hole on the floor, Noctis shook his head no. "No, you're probably right. Though... if there were those rocks there, wouldn't my dad's power have gone crazy, too?" he asked Luna.

After pondering it for a couple of seconds, she glanced at Noctis again and asked, "did he _use_ his magic that day?"

No was the simple answer to that, and Noctis just shook his head in reply. "I don't think so. He usually didn't when he was teaching me," he explained. "He just... taught me. Kind of like how you're doing right now." He laughed softly, sadly, thinking back to all the time he'd spent learning from his father how to do what he could currently do.

"Much like how he taught me," she pointed out. "Before you were even ready to learn, he taught me, actually. My father was the mage, not my mother. She couldn't teach me, so she brought me to your father. That's why I'm not showing you anything. Magic is something that needs to be learned through feeling, instead of instruction, especially since our powers are so drastically different." Her smile was warm, and her hand was on his shoulder now, a comforting gesture.

Of course his dad had taught her. Noctis laughed a soft note as he glanced down at the black holes, and without instruction, he brought a tiny tendril from each one. "So, you think I should go to Malmalam Thicket, then?" he asked her.

She nodded. "I think, if you ever want to be master of your magic, instead of the other way around, you _need_ to go to Malmalam Thicket and see if those purple rocks are in there the same way they were in that mine. I'm certain that Gladiolus and his crew wouldn't mind taking a detour for you." Once again, she crossed the room and leaned against the headboard of the bed. "I don't think that, without those purple rocks, your magic will be much of a problem anymore. Look at you. You're holding a pair of small black holes steady with no strain, you are making your tendrils simply stand there, rather than twining around and panicking to attack whoever is around them... I would wager that you could even add a third black hole without issue," she insisted.

Noctis wasn't so sure about that, but she was definitely right about the fact that he was having a way easier time controlling them right now. Weird. He tried to tell the tendrils to go away, to tell the holes to close, and the very second he thought it, that was exactly what happened. While there was a little bit of lingering bitterness making Noctis wonder exactly why this couldn't have happened back in the mine, at least now he had a little bit more of a clue about why that might have happened. Might have, anyway. Still not a certainty, but he honestly didn't expect much by way of certainty when it came to this. Even _if_ he made it to the Malmalam Thicket.

Before he really had any chance to focus on that, though, he heard the scraping sound of a key in the lock to Luna's sanctuary. Luna had pretty much told everyone that there weren't supposed to be any interruptions, but at the same time, Noctis was fully aware of the fact that sometimes emergencies happened. A part of him wasn't sure who to expect at the door. Sometimes, their friends would mess around a bit too much when drunk—Prompto and Loqi would get into silly competitions and do stupid things sometimes—so a part of him honestly expected something like that. The last thing he expected was a panicked Crowe to appear in the doorway, rushing across the room as quickly as her legs would take her.

Not to Luna, to Noctis. She turned to Luna, murmured, "sorry to interrupt," and then turned the full of her attention back to Noctis. "Edgelord. Freckles' in trouble. Sick, I think. Muscles and Poindexter are takin' him back to the ship right now to look him over, but... apparently some dude that I'm not sure if any of us even _saw_ put something in his drink-"

The rest of what Crowe said may as well have been silence, honestly. Noctis took off in a near-sprint toward the door, completely abandoning his lesson with Luna to head back up to the bar. Luna wouldn't be too upset. Or maybe she would, but Noctis would deal with it if it came to that. Instead, he hurried through the bar, which had emptied out almost completely, and now the only ones left were Luna's staff and Ravus, who was the one who directed Noctis out the front door before going to help Loqi with something that Noctis didn't even care to find out. Maybe he should have. Loqi's projects were usually pretty important. Noctis didn't care, though.

As Noctis smashed his way through the front door with a force that would have probably broken it if it was made of a wood any less sturdy, he was a little bit surprised to see that the streets were mostly empty, too, save for a man in a large coat, with feathered hair and a bowler hat who turned the corner in a flourish. Noctis didn't even pay him any mind, because he had somewhere important to be. He sprinted through the Cauthess streets, back toward where Gladio had parked the ship, and hurried to yank the door open. He knew, of course, why it wasn't open—it was a security thing, or something like that—but it was still an annoyance when he had somewhere that he needed to be.

Up until now, Noctis had always found the ship a comfortable size. Not too big, not too small. As he was in a rush to get to the med bay, though, it felt massive. Like there were a hundred million doors separating him from where he needed to be. And he finally opened the door, just in time to see Prompto fall from the bed and to the floor, unconscious.

"What the-"

Gladio got between Noctis and where Ignis stood, checking Prompto over and helping him get back up onto the bed. He held Noctis back with an arm, and while Noctis _knew_ that it was for the best, that didn't change the fact that he really needed to be at Prompto's side right then. "Easy, Noct. We're tryin' to figure out what happened, and you freakin' out's not gonna help," he insisted.

A part of Noctis wanted to fight back, but at the same time, he was pretty sure that Gladio could very easily toss him across the room and knock _him_ out, too, and then he'd really be no help to Prompto. Instead of fighting back again, Noctis slumped sideways against the door, finally trying to catch his breath from the panicked running he'd done to get from Luna's bar to the ship as quickly as he had. It hadn't occurred to him until then, how long he'd been running—how _hard_ he'd been running—and now it was hitting him full force. The pain caught up to him, and the injury in his side throbbed a little bit, but he ignored it for now. As much as he could, anyway.

Between gasped breaths, Noctis turned to Ignis and asked, "is... is he okay?"

Ignis nodded, placing a hand on Prompto's wrist and feeling for his pulse. "Yes, his heart is still beating and he's still breathing. There is no real damage. I suspect that it's akin to passing out from intoxication, however this was very likely not Prompto's fault. The amount he drank should not have been enough to incapacitate him like this," he explained.

"The drug?" Gladio asked Ignis, though Noctis suspected that it wasn't really a necessary question.

Someone had drugged him. Now that Gladio's arm was down and out of Noctis' path, he walked slowly across the room to stop next to Prompto's bed. There was a large red mark on his face from when he'd fallen to the floor—it was almost guaranteed that it would bruise, actually—and his skin was a little bit paler than usual, but other than that he looked okay. Okay, though, was relative. At least in a situation like this. Behind him, Gladio and Ignis talked. A part of Noctis was sure that he should have been listening to what they were saying, but it almost felt like it didn't matter. Not while Prompto wasn't conscious.

Gently, Noctis lifted his hand and removed Prompto's goggles and hat from his head, setting them off to the side and smoothing a hand gently through his best friend's hair, pushing it out of his face. Someone had drugged him. Why? Who would even do something like that? No one at the bar, that was for sure. No one that they knew.

And why would anyone want to do it to him, for that matter? Prompto was the best person in the world. Kind. Caring. The type of person who would stop traffic if a chocobo was hurt somewhere nearby.

The very second that thought entered his mind, though, another sharp pain shot through his side. His hand went to the wound in his side, and just as quickly as he moved, Ignis was next to him, crouched down and worrying over the injury. At the command to take off his cloak, Noctis wanted to fight back and tell his friend that he was fine—that Prompto was supposed to be the priority—but Ignis wouldn't let him. Instead, he shook his head and turned to glance at one of the other beds in the med bay. Before Noctis could argue anymore, Ignis had a hand on his shoulder, guiding him toward the bed and telling him to lie on his side.

"How fast did you move to get here?" Ignis chided, as he set Noctis' cloak off to the side and lifted his vest and shirt.

Noctis shrugged at first. "I ran," he answered. It wasn't a real answer, but at the same time, it was probably enough. It was _definitely_ enough to make Ignis sigh, and as much as Noctis wanted to care, he really couldn't.

With a huff of annoyance, Ignis declared, "well, my scans tell me that you've popped some of your stitches, so I'll need to remove them and resew them. It's just fortunate that you didn't _tear_ them. That would have hurt all the worse." He paused, gathering a pair of scissors from the table drawer next to the bed that Noctis was in. "Honestly, what part of 'low activity' are you having difficulty with, Noctis?"

The answer was simple. Without hesitation, Noctis answered, "you wouldn't have been able to slow down if it was Gladio in Prom's shoes, Iggy." And there was no way that Ignis could tell him that he was wrong, either. He would have run through the whole town with a broken leg if something was wrong with Gladio.

At first, there was no answer. Ignis didn't say anything, and from across the room, Gladio simply huffed a chuckle. "He's got you there, Igs. Go easy on him, huh? He's a little lovesick pup, and you know for a fact that I'd probably have done exactly the same thing if it was you in Prom's shoes. Probably would've gone lookin' for the guy, too," he added in a low rumble as he lowered himself into a chair next to Prompto's bed.

Humming his disapproval, Ignis belied that disapproval with a nod as he snipped at Noctis' stitches. "I suppose it's hard to be terribly angry, given the circumstances. However, could you not have at least brought your cane with you? It would have been far easier to-"

"Would've slowed me down," Noctis answered, making a face at the feeling of the string being tugged out from beneath his skin. He wasn't really sure how much it had healed. Luna had helped him out a little bit, too, earlier. What little she was able to do, anyway. Her healing could ease pain, but not _really_ close wounds like what Noctis had. Her skill really stood in barriers. Protection. For a second, Noctis allowed himself to feel envious. Protection was way, way better than a stupid black hole. At the moment, there were more pressing matters than that, though.

Noctis, from where he lay on his side on the bed while Ignis threaded the needle to resew his wound, had to crane his neck to get a good look at Prompto. "S-so, um... what... is he okay?" he asked.

Ignis' answer was gentle. "Yes, of course. He's rather woozy, and was having a hard time with coherency when he was conscious, but altogether alright. However, that doesn't change the fact that, in his altered state of mind, he..." A pause, and Ignis hummed a hum that Noctis recognized pretty well. It was the hum that meant that Ignis was hiding something. Trying to protect Noctis, or something like that. He didn't need it, though. Not really.

"It's okay, Specs, you can tell me. I'm not gonna freak out or anything."

It wasn't Ignis that spoke up, though. It was Gladio. "He kinda screwed up a bit. The guy who put whatever in his drink? He was askin' some questions. 'Bout you, and Luna. 'Bout what you and Prom do with your time. So," he paused, then breathed out a sigh of his own as Noctis heard him stand up again. "Kid kept tellin' us that he didn't know why he answered, but he did. He told the guy you were a mage. Don't know whether he reacted, or why he wanted to know, but if he wanted to know bad enough to fuckin' drug the kid's drink to find out? Can't imagine it was for a good reason." By the time he finished talking, he was pacing like a restless animal in a cage.

That made sense, in a way. Generally speaking, Gladio's reaction in situations like this was to find whoever was causing the problem and beat the snot out of them. It was probably tough for him not to do that at the moment. In the silence—aside from the sound of Gladio's pacing steps and the sound of Ignis coating a rag with anesthetic—Noctis found himself going back to the fact that, whoever this guy was, he'd seemed okay with _drugging_ Prompto. Noctis didn't know who, other than mage hunters, would have it out for him enough to drug someone else in order to get information about him. It wasn't the first time he'd had people out to get him, and it likely wouldn't be the last, but... it still wasn't an idea he was in love with.

Shrugging a shoulder, Noctis insisted, "I don't think Prom would willingly tell anyone anything, so..." Not that he thought it was really a concern. His main concern was the fact that Prompto was even dealing with this, to begin with.

It seemed like Ignis and Gladio felt the same way, too. Ignis nodded and frowned. "Of course he wouldn't. That's not even a question. I am, however, mildly concerned that my eye doesn't allow me to detect any abnormalities in his system." Waving a hand in front of his left eye—the one he'd lost in an accident a couple of years ago and replaced with a mechanical scanner that Loqi developed for him, which Noctis couldn't even _begin_ to understand—he hummed a sigh. "I felt a bit of a pulse while we were in the bar, but it happens from time to time. I didn't think much of it."

"Is everything else workin' okay?" Gladio asked, on his feet and at Ignis' side in an instant. "D'we have to call Tummelt and-"

Ignis shook his head no. "I'm fine, Gladio. Everything else is working just fine. I could tell through Noctis' shirt that he popped a few stitches, and I can see that your heart-rate has increased by about half. Please relax, and sit over with Prompto," he insisted.

Grumbling under his breath but obeying, Gladio crossed the room and lowered himself back down into the chair. "Probably a good idea," he admitted. "The longer I'm standin' and hearin' all this shit this person did, whoever he is, the more I'm tempted to go find 'em and beat the _tar_ out of 'em." Even as he sat, his hands gripped the sides of the chair so tightly that they practically white-knuckled.

At that thought, a new concern rose to his mind, and he lifted his head, glancing from Ignis to Gladio, before he voiced it. "You think everyone at the bar is okay?"

If they were asking about him and Luna, if they knew that he and Luna were mages, then there was a chance that they were hunters. Noctis wasn't saying that he didn't think Nyx and Pel and the others could protect the bar. Hell, Crowe and Luna were pretty tough, too. They didn't take any crap. Iris was still there, too, and she was almost tougher than her brother sometimes. Still, there was a little bit of worry. Someone had drugged Prompto. Who was to say that they wouldn't stoop lower than to separate the group and then attack when they were vulnerable?

Ignis answered, "I suspect that if anyone thinks that the people left at the bar are easy targets, they're in for quite a shock."

Gladio snorted a laugh. "He's got a point. Iris'll take 'em all down herself," he mused.

The next few minutes were a mix of anesthesia, stitches, and Ignis making Noctis _promise_ to stay out of trouble until his wound healed. It ended with the pair of them leaving to go check on the others—a part of Noctis wondered if his words had taken root or something—and, once again, making Noctis promise that he would stay here with Prompto. It wasn't a hard thing to promise. As much as Ignis probably wanted him to stay in the other hospital bed, though, Noctis couldn't bring himself to. Lowering himself down as the pain medication that Ignis had given him took effect, making him a little bit woozy, Noctis crossed the room and stopped in the chair that Gladio had been sitting in moments ago.

Lowering his exhausted body into the chair, Noctis let out a breath that was half-sigh half-yawn, and leaned his head back against the wall. With his head tilted back, he leaned it to the side so that he was looking at Prompto, and as his eyes fell closed, his best friend's sleeping form was the last thing he saw.

Honestly, he wasn't really sure how long he was out. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours. Dreamless sleeps were rare for Noctis. Usually, his dreams would taunt him with things like the night his mom died, the night his dad died, or more recently, almost killing Prompto in the mine. This time, though, however long he was out, his sleep was completely dreamless and completely restful. The medication, most likely.

When he finally _did_ awaken, though, it was to the sound of a groan in the room. It took time for awareness to seep in through each of Noctis' senses. Sound came first, as the sound of Prompto moving on the bed caught his attention. Feeling came second—the slight ache in his side and the heavy and thick floating feeling of the pain medication spreading out through his bloodstream. Sight came next—though it wasn't Prompto that he saw first, it was the bright lights on the ceiling of the med bay—and he blinked against them, before turning to glance at Prompto where he was sitting up now.

Noctis was on his feet quicker than his body wanted him to be. He completely ignored the dizzy feeling, as well as he could, anyway. Stepping forward, he reached his arms out, and pulled a panicking Prompto close to him in a desperate hug. Ignoring the sharp pain that flooded him when Prompto latched onto him and hugged him tightly, he tightened his own grip. He didn't care about pain, as long as he knew that Prompto was safe.

"Noct... I-I'm so... I'm so sorry..."

Prompto's voice was choked out between convulsive sobs as he buried his face into Noctis' shirt. It was that, more than anything, that made Noctis react. Tears sprang to his eyes, because Prompto should never have been allowed to cry. He should have never been allowed to be sad. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right for the brightest spot in Noctis' life to be anything but happy on his own. At first, Noctis considered not answering and just holding Prompto, but he realized that he had to.

In a voice that was a little shakier than he expected it to be, Noctis answered him. "It's alright, Prom, okay? I... I dunno what happened or anything. I dunno what you said or what he asked or anything, but I don't care. We'll... we'll deal with it, okay? Somehow."

Reluctantly, Noctis released Prompto from the embrace and pushed himself up so that he was sitting on the bed. "It's... it's not like you'd ever do anything like that on purpose, you know? I know that, and you don't have to prove it to me," he insisted. "We'll find whoever did this to you. And we'll make him sorry." Them, or Noctis alone. It didn't matter if it was just one person, if it was an army of people, _anything_ like that. Noctis would fight anyone who dared to lay a finger on Prompto.

Swallowing thickly, Prompto nodded a dismal nod and leaned sideways, letting his head rest on Noctis' shoulder. "Hey, Noct? Can I ask you a question?" There was a wobbly uncertainty in his tone, like he was holding back a second flood of tears.

"Anything," Noctis answered.

A long beat of silence, and Prompto breathed a shaky breath, before continuing. "We'd... we'd still be best friends, we'd still be us, no matter what my memories are hiding, right? Like... no matter what I did? You'd still care about me? You wouldn't hate-"

Before Prompto could even finish speaking, Noctis stopped him by placing a hand on his hand and squeezing it. "Hey. How many times have I worried about you not wanting to be my friend because I'm dangerous?" he asked, and before Prompto could even answer, he kept speaking. "And what kind of friend would I be if I didn't give you the same? I don't care about your past." He paused. "Well, I mean... I do, because it hurts you, not knowing it. But nothing you could have done changes who you are, Prom. You're you. Just like you told me that I'm me. And we'll always be us. There's no Noctis without Prompto, okay?" That, Noctis was absolutely sure of.

"Promise?" Prompto asked.

Noctis nodded. "Cross my heart," he answered.

Even with the promise, Noctis could tell by the way that Prompto latched onto him again that he was still feeling a little sad, and maybe a little sick. Noctis moved slowly—fighting the dizziness a little bit longer—so that they were both laying back against the bed in the med bay. They didn't say anything else, for the moment. Prompto simply curled against Noctis' side, draping an arm over his chest. Though he could feel Prompto's unease, the pair of them fell asleep without another word between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SEVERAL THINGS FOR THIS END NOTE. First of all: OH MY GOD I'M PAST 50K? *collapses* I've been working so hard on this, guys. I'm so glad you're enjoying reading as much as I'm enjoying writing. We're still going strong, too!
> 
> SECOND OF ALL. I have gotten some _amazing_ companion art from [InterstellarArabella](http://archiveofourown.org/users/InterstellarArabella/profile) ([diapphire](http://diapphire.tumblr.com/) on tumblr!) that I wanted to share with you guys!
> 
> There's [this silly one](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/376919280605986817/378801242115145738/shitdrawing.jpg?width=1352&height=676) of that hilarious moment between Luna and Noct two chapters ago! And then [this one](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/376919280605986817/379563266780954625/GirlsNightOut.jpg?width=1130&height=676), of a nice girl's night out! She's also working on some cover art! She's incredible and you should all let her know how great she is!
> 
> Thirdly! This would not have been as fun as it was without the help of my beta and cheerleading section, [nicoleiacross](http://archiveofourown.org/users/nicoleiacross/profile). As ever, Kiri's always there to poke at me and tell me if something is too much, or if it needs a little bit more.
> 
> ♥♥♥ Looking forward to keeping this universe going!


	11. Yesteryear

Prompto still didn't feel like talking, even as they all gathered in Luna's sanctuary. She'd closed the place down, and made sure that no one else could get in, which was fine, but that still didn't make Prompto feel any better. Worse, actually. Being around Noctis and Luna, in the very place he'd screwed up as badly as he had—well, okay. Not the _very_ place, but it was still close enough to make him feel miserable—was not doing his confidence any favors.

How could he have just done that? How could he, even under the influence of whatever that guy had put in his drink, just spilled the fact that Noctis and Luna were mages to some stranger? They didn't seem mad. When he'd gotten back to the bar, Luna had pulled him into the strongest hug that Prompto remembered having recently. While it should have made him feel relieved, knowing that his friends didn't hate them for spilling secrets, it didn't. It made him feel like he was getting away with doing something horrible; getting away with possibly getting Luna or Noctis hurt. Or killed. Or something.

Shaking that thought off, and trying to ignore the way it still kind of made his head swim, Prompto glanced around the room. Noctis was explaining to everyone what Luna had told him. That, maybe, his magic was being thrown out of whack by the purple rocks that Prompto remembered seeing in the cave. Somehow, they decided that before they went anywhere else, the group needed to go to the Malmalam Thicket, which was obviously giving Noctis some pretty strong hesitation. Prompto remembered what Cid told him, that Noctis' dad had _died_ in a mine in the thicket, and it made him turn his lips down into a frown.

Somehow, Noctis was being forced to face his demons. Demons that he shouldn't have had to face. While Prompto wasn't sure how the fact that they had to go to the thicket was his fault, it was hard not to feel that way. They wouldn't have even known about the rocks if Prompto hadn't been so insistent that they go to the mine that day.

With his lips in a thin line, he glanced around the room at all of his friends, then paused when his eyes fell upon Loqi, who had been looking at him with sad eyes the whole time they'd been in the room. They hadn't spoken; Loqi hadn't even stepped closer to him since they got into the room. At least not until then.

Loqi stepped forward, while Luna chatted with Gladio about _some_ thing or other, and placed a hand on Prompto's shoulder. "Prom. You know none of this shit's your fault, right?" he asked. "It's not like you could've even stopped yourself from talking if you tried. He, um... he put a truth serum in your drink, dude. Some sort of weird crap that I remember reading about in one of those books that Amicitia and his crew brought back for me when they went to Niflheim. It's this... ah, to put it simply, it's kinda... like a brain relaxer? It wakes up the parts of your brain that make you feel comfortable and-"

"It doesn't matter," Prompto murmured, staring down at his hands. "He put it in my drink, yeah, but I was the one who went and told 'im about Noct's magic and the fact that you and me are from Niflheim. I told him that I can't remember anything, Lo. I told him that I can't remember anything from, y'know, back there. I don't know _why_ I told him, but I did, and..." And he _did_ remember something. Turning his head to glance up at Loqi, he raked his teeth over his lip and sighed softly.

Did he even want to _talk_ about that dream? No. He really didn't. Loqi didn't ask to hear about stupid dreams that he had that may or may not have had any basis in reality. He turned his head to look away, not allowing himself to meet his brother's eyes, instead forcing himself to focus on the floor. It wasn't Prompto's first time in the sanctuary. It was his first time actually needing to use it for its intended purposes, though. They were all hiding from that guy in the hat. Still, while he refused to meet Loqi's eye, he took in bits and pieces of the room. It was safe—a safe place for mages, namely—but at the same time, if what Prompto dreamed was true... then he really didn't belong here, did he?

Loqi tapped Prompto's chin with a finger and forced him to look up until they met eyes. One hand rested on Prompto's shoulder, and the other brushed some of his bangs from his face. "And what?" he encouraged gently.

With a nonchalant shrug of his head, Prompto sighed sadly. "Don't make a big deal of it, okay? I know you're tryin' to, like... keep me safe from memories and everything, but... but I might've remembered something," he pointed out, swallowing nervously and meeting Loqi's eye again. "I'm... I'm not sure if it's really real, if it really happened, but I, like... when I passed out? I had this dream..."

Concern spread across Loqi's face as Prompto kept talking, and he lowered himself down to sit on the bed next to Prompto. "You remembered something... or was it just a dream?" he asked.

That was the thing, though. Prompto didn't know. He swallowed nervously and shrugged again, then heaved a sigh. "It was... it was this back alley," he explained, turning his eyes to make sure that everyone else was still busy with their own conversations and that no one was paying any attention to them. The closest person was Ignis, and Prompto didn't know if _he_ was paying attention or not, but with a shrug, he continued. "It was you and me. And this old dude, and I think the guy from the bar." He smoothed a hand over his hair, catching his hat and his goggles in his grasp and tugging them off.

"I... yeah?" Loqi replied. Prompto wasn't sure what to make of that answer, honestly, but before he got a chance to question it, Loqi continued. "A-and?"

It was really weird to hear Loqi stumble. Prompto's brother was usually unshakably confident. The type of person who would never be scared by some random, creepy stranger at a bar. Or maybe he would have, if the way he was reacting to Prompto just _mentioning_ the guy was any indication. Either way, it didn't matter. Prompto was freaked, Loqi looked freaked, and the whole situation was going to drive him insane if he didn't say something to someone other than Noct, who had sounded like he wanted to tear the whole town to shreds in search of the guy when Prompto had mentioned him.

So, with that in mind, he sighed a soft note and kept talking, completely unaware that Ignis had keyed into the conversation from a couple of feet away. "I shot someone," he admitted, his voice a low mumble as he ran his hand over his face. "You were hurt. Your knee was hurt and you were crying and kept trying to stand up and some old dude kept taunting us and I just... got so mad. I shot him. I'm not sure if I-"

Loqi swallowed thickly and then heaved a heavy sigh, sitting on the bed next to Prompto. "You're... do you think... what did they say? You said they were taunting us. Wh-what did they say?" he asked.

That didn't really seem relevant, but Prompto tried to think back. It was weird. In movies and on TV and in books, when people had dreams like that and were drugged for them, it always seemed like they had trouble remembering them. Not Prompto. He could still remember every word that the old man said, and the fact that the man in the hat kept urging him on. So... with a shrug of his head, he raked his teeth over his lip and looked up at Loqi.

"He kept calling me something like... 0-1-6. And he called you 0-1-2. Like we were some sort of robot or experiment or something." The puff of laughter that escaped was humorless, and Prompto felt the burning of tears prickling the backs of his eyes. It was dumb. If it was just a dream, there was no need to get so emotional over it, right? So... why was he? "And then he kept saying that I'd never be successful at _something_ because I kept breaking rules. Like me wanting to protect you was against some kind of rule. And that they'd be able to find us wherever we went and..." It felt like he was _right on the edge_ of a memory, but he couldn't find his way there, and it was endlessly frustrating to him.

What was worse was the fact that it looked like Loqi was struggling, too. Like he was waging an internal war on himself, trying to decide if he wanted to say something or if he wanted to keep it to himself. One hand moved to rub at the barcode tattoo on his wrist, and he stared down at the sanctuary floor.

Prompto, too, reached up to touch his barcode tattoo. It was hidden beneath his glove and his sleeve, but he could almost feel it like it, like it was staring through the clothes at him. "Does it have something to do with this, Lo? Is it just a dream or was it like... a memory or something? Because I... I'm tired of not knowing. I want to know where we came from, and I... I know you don't want to think about it, because it hurts you, too, but I... I don't like having blank spots." He hated it, actually.

Loqi frowned. "I'm not hiding it to be an ass, Prom. I'm hiding it because-"

"I know," Prompto interrupted, trying to keep the frustration out of his tone, but probably failing a little bit. "I know you only want to protect me, but if it's something that's going to show up in my dreams and going to make guys like the one in the bar show up..."

At that, Loqi jumped to attention, his eyes shooting open and his back instantly straightening. He smacked his bad knee on the bedside table, and then hissed a curse as he rubbed at the old injury. "Wh-what do you _mean_ guys like the one at the bar? Prom, what do you remember about the guy at the bar? Because..." He trailed off, and once again, he looked way less confident than Prompto had ever seen him. Scared, even.

All Prompto could do was blink at first. "I... I remember him pretty well, actually," he admitted. "Like, really well, now that my head's cleared up. He had red hair. Not really red, but like... reddish brown. And he was a mage, which was how my mind justified it being okay to tell him about Noct and Luna." At the mention of his friend, Prompto's eyes drifted across the room to where Noctis stood next to Luna, Gladio, and Nyx, practicing making tiny black holes in the wall. "He had white markings, but they weren't _like_ Noct and Luna's... it was almost like they were-"

"In a different language? Close but... not quite the same?" Loqi asked, his eyes wide with anxiety that Prompto hadn't seen since they were homeless in Lestallum.

Prompto nodded. "Uh... y-yeah. Why?"

And just like that, Loqi's panic seemed to triple. He moved to stand, but Ignis—who had obviously been listening in the whole time—shook his head no and placed a hand on his chest. "Please calm yourself, Loqi. You're nearing anxiety attack levels of panic, and while we are perfectly capable of dealing with such a situation, I would rather it not escalate to that point. As I'm sure you would as well, _especially_ around your brother," he spoke, his tone not chastising, but instead calm. "And not around the others."

With a motion of his hand, Ignis pointed to where everyone else in the room was looking over at them. Noctis and Ravus, in particular, were flashing concerned glances. Prompto tried to smile—tried to ease Noctis' mind with an expression—but even he could tell that it fell short. Ravus moved to step over, but Iris stopped him with a hand on his arm and a shake of her head. Prompto saw her lips moving, telling him that 'Ignis has it, Ravus,' which was what finally got him to stop.

Loqi looked up at Ignis and blinked a couple of times, then took a deep breath and nodded his head. "R-right," he mumbled. "I just..."

"What, exactly, has you so anxious about the man in the hat?" Ignis asked, sitting on a chair not too far from the bed that Prompto and Loqi sat on.

With a sigh, Loqi looked from Ignis to Prompto, and then back to Ignis. "Can... can we go up to the bar? Talk about it somewhere, you know... not so busy?" he asked.

That was Prompto's next clue that, whatever it was, it wasn't good. Loqi had no issues talking in groups of people, usually. The fact that he was so frazzled about this was making Prompto all the more nervous. He raised his eyes, catching Noctis' gaze for a second, and trying not to act like a pathetic idiot in response to the gentle concern that his best friend flashed back at him. He managed, somewhat, responding with a weak smile and a single nod, before turning to look back at Loqi. He wanted to take the conversation somewhere else, and honestly, it was probably a good idea.

"I will alert the others. The pair of you, I simply ask that you wait for me, so that I can keep watch. We do not know if the man who put the truth serum in Prompto's drink is still around, and if he is, it would probably be for the best if the pair of you were not alone, correct?" The warmth in his Ignis' smile eased Prompto's mind a little bit. Ignis was good at that.

Prompto nodded and stood up slowly, ignoring the tiny bit of dizziness that still worked its way through his body. Ignis and Pelna had told him that it would be like that for a couple of days, while the drug worked its way through his system. Prompto didn't know much about stuff like that, but he knew that Ignis' eye made him a pretty reliable source for things like that, and that Pelna _definitely_ knew what he was talking about. He hadn't gone to school for it or anything, but he'd been the doctor on Gladio's ship for a really, really long time. Working with pirates had probably taught him a lot about things like that.

So, he turned around when Ignis walked over to inform Noctis and the others of where they were going, extending his hand to help his brother up. "Whatever it is, Lo... whatever happened? You're still my brother and I still love you, okay?" It probably didn't need saying. Or maybe it did, if the way Loqi smiled as he reached out to take hold of Prompto's arm was any indication, but it was good to see Loqi smiling all the same.

Standing gingerly, Loqi reached over and picked his cane up, bracing himself on the ground and then reaching up to give Prompto a one-armed hug. "Could do a whole hell of a lot worse as far as little brothers go, too, there, little brother," he reassured Prompto, pressing a kiss into Prompto's hair. "Thanks. Needed the reminder there."

That brought the most genuine smile to Prompto's face that he remembered having since he woke up on the airship. Sure, it was comforting, being with Noctis, but something about knowing that he and his brother were still unshakable, even after what he'd seen in that maybe-dream, maybe-not, was a relief. The pair of them walked to the door together, and waited for Ignis to show up again. When Ignis _did_ show up, Prompto caught sight of Noctis in his peripheral vision, flashing him a concerned gaze and raking his teeth over his lip. There was a silent question in Noctis' eyes, which glowed just _slightly_ purple while he sustained his magic, and Prompto tried to ease it with a smile. It was weak, though, and likely didn't ease anything.

Still, he wanted to hear what Loqi had to say, so he turned around and followed his brother and Ignis up the stairs and into the bar. The place was still closed down, and a bit eerie looking without anyone else there. The bar was empty. Prompto could still see the bar stool, though, unmoved from where the man in the hat had left it when he got up to leave. He cringed and looked away, watching as Ignis led them to a table in the corner. By a window. That was good. Ignis could look outside and listen, while Prompto and Loqi talked.

Heaving a sigh, Loqi lowered himself to sit on the table. "I should probably, y'know, open this somehow, but I honestly don't know how. So..." He sighed, smoothing a hand through his hair and watching as Prompto and Ignis sat down. Ignis next to the window, and Prompto in the only chair, with his back facing the rest of the bar.

"So, Prom. You're gonna hate this. I know you're gonna react poorly, which honestly makes me _still_ not wanna tell you, but I'm hoping with Specs here, you'll at least be able to handle it a little bit better." Loqi only stopped for a moment, to glance over at the bar like he wanted to get a drink, but then opted against it instead and turned back to glance at Prompto, then at his wrist. "I know you've always wondered about the barcode on your wrist. And why wouldn't you, right? Not like everyone you see on the street has a damn barcode on their wrist and... and I'm going on a tangent but..."

Again, he sighed, then looked back up at Prompto, looking him square in the eye, before saying, "Prom. We were born in Niflheim. That guy... the one you saw in your dream? The one you shot? He was our dad. I don't know who our mom was, don't know if she's still alive or anything. Don't know where she went or what happened to her. Always sort of assumed he killed her," he murmured. "But that was our dad. And you _did_ shoot him. But it wasn't..." He stopped short, looking from Prompto to Ignis.

Ignis nodded a single nod, his eyes soft and supportive in an attempt to urge Loqi to continue. Which was good, really, because as much as Prompto wanted to know the rest of the story? He was a little bit too dumbstruck to ask himself. He'd always wondered about their parents. Of course he did. He knew that they hadn't just appeared from thin air, or been dropped from some sort of meteor or something like that. Loqi never talked about their dad, though, and Prompto didn't like to ask. When he _did_ ask, Loqi always got sad. Always got quiet. If their dad was bad enough that Prompto _shot_ him? Well... it made sense.

"The other guy... the guy in the hat? The one who drugged you... he's the old man's friend. Probably his _only_ one, honestly." The words were spoken with no shortage of hatred. Prompto had heard Loqi talk about people he hated before. It was never like this. It sounded like, if the words took physical form, they'd find the man and kill him just on impact. Before Prompto could ask about that, he continued. "He was a real asshole, Prom. Called our old man our handler and us his property. You know. Like we're not even people or something. I hated him worse than our old man, I think. So did you, but with you, it was more of a fear-based hate. When you were little, Prom, you'd hide in the closet or leave the little dorm room apartment whatever thing that we lived in, go and hide on the roof or in the common room until he was gone."

Like someone had smacked him on the head with the memory, it flooded Prompto's mind and made him blink dumbly at Loqi as his mind reeled. Being a child—a chubby child—and running away and hiding from the man who called him a "failure, physically. How will a child like that ever make a good-" Before the sentence ended, telling him what he was supposed to be, it was almost like his mind blanked out. Like whatever barrier he'd built on his mind was trying to protect him or something.

Maybe he didn't want to be protected, though. Maybe he wanted to know, so he could stop wondering who he was and why he was who he was...

Loqi spoke up and caught his attention again. "The master guy—I don't even know his _name_ , honestly. He always made us call him Master or Sir or something like that—was always weirdly obsessed with us. Some of the other kids said that it was because we were his friend's kids. They hated us, because we got preferential treatment. We got to stay together and they all got separated from their families and..." He paused, trailed off, shook his head hard and stared down at the table. "It wasn't preferential, though. We weren't allowed to do anything but train. You only learned to read and write because I taught you, Prom. I only learned to read and write because a woman—a mage, I think? I don't know, really—brought me books and showed me what letters were and what the sounds meant."

It seemed like, whatever had happened, the levee on Loqi's secrets had burst open. "It's... we're... we were training all the time. You know? I remember being yelled at for calling you my brother. Having them try to drill into our heads that we weren't brothers. That we were partner units. That we'd never work well together if we cared about each other. If we were trying to protect each other and not do our jobs..." he murmured.

Work together. Training. Whatever they were training to do, it seemed like Loqi was going to great lengths to avoid telling Prompto exactly what it was. They'd been training. As brother _units_ , not brothers, for something. In Niflheim. With their handler and their master. All of it was on the fringes, right on the edges of Prompto's memory and right outside of his reach. He was stretching for it, trying _desperately_ to get there, but he couldn't quite make it. There was a missing piece. Something. What _was_ it? Loqi was trying to lead him there, he could tell. To say it without saying it.

"But I never let them, you know?" Loqi continued. "I wanted to make sure you knew that we _were_ brothers. That we _are_ brothers. That I love you." It wasn't a small statement for Loqi to make. He wasn't the type of person who threw the words 'love' and stuff around liberally, so hearing him say it right then was really just another shock to the system that had Prompto giving his brother his full attention. "It all came from the books that woman gave me. Things about families. Things about, y'know, what we would've been if we'd been born in Lucis instead of Niflheim..." He laughed a bitter note, then glanced down at the table again.

Prompto just blinked up at his brother, completely dumbstruck by the complete candidness of what he was saying. It wasn't really _surprising_. When it came to things other than this, Loqi was always open and honest with him. This just never fell into that category. "I'm... glad you did." He didn't know what would have happened, if Loqi had just rolled over and done what they wanted him to do.

Loqi smirked. "Me too, Prom," he insisted.

One question still remained, though. He swallowed nervously, raising his eyes to look at Loqi and pointed out, "but there's one thing you still haven't told me," with a nervous look in his eye.

Ignis turned to attention at that, and there was a weird look on his face. His eyebrows were furrowed as he looked from Prompto to Loqi. His gaze turned questioning, like he knew what Loqi had to say, and was asking if he was actually going to say it. To say that he was confused by that was an understatement, of course, but he didn't say anything. He just watched the two of them exchange glances, and then raked his teeth over his lip. Did Ignis know? It wouldn't have surprised Prompto if he did.

Sighing softly, Loqi nodded his head. "I know. I haven't told you what we were, because it's not one of those things that you can just _say_ , Prom. It's one of those things... there's a time before you know it, and a time after, and you can never go back once you've crossed the line. And it'll... you'll-"

"He needs to be aware, Loqi. You know it as well as I do," Ignis pointed out.

Okay, so Ignis _did_ know. Prompto swallowed nervously and turned his attention to Ignis, who flashed a nervous smile back at him and nodded a gentle nod. "Just be fully aware, Prompto, that no matter what you will think when he tells you, none of us will think any less of you. Least of all, Noctis," he insisted.

Prompto blinked again. This was bad, wasn't it? Turning his eyes back to Loqi in a desperate but silent question, Prompto wondered if maybe it was a good idea to backtrack. To decide that he _didn't_ want to know. He did, though. He wanted to know what he would have been if... if that scene in the alley hadn't happened. If he and Loqi hadn't escaped. So, bracing himself as much as he could, he turned to look at his brother with an attempt at resolve in his eyes, then told him, "I'm ready, Loqi. Tell me, please. I... I need to know."

Though he looked hesitant, Loqi frowned and nodded. "Alright, Prom." With his eyes square on Prompto's, the same way that Prompto's were square on his, he spoke in a calm and level voice that sounded like it should have been coming from someone else. "When we were in Niflheim, they were training us to be a mage hunting team. If they'd succeeded... we'd probably be here in Lucis, trying to take out Noct and Luna, and any other mages in town. Or dead. Or.... or something," he mumbled, his voice going soft and his eyes meeting Prompto's again.

Prompto could only stare at him for a couple of seconds as the words sank in, though. Mage hunters. People who hunted mages. The people who, just days ago, had tried to kill Noctis. Had been haunting Noctis for his whole life. Had killed Noctis' mother. Prompto had been trained, for the first thirteen years of his life, to be a _mage hunter_.

And somehow, he'd found himself best friends with a mage. With a crush on a mage. Partners, adventurers, two halves of a whole, with a _mage_ , when he was supposed to be a _mage hunter_.

Noctis should have hated him. Noctis should have wanted him dead, just as much as the people who had been trained for the same purpose as he was wanted _Noctis_ dead. How many people that he'd grown up with had tried to _kill_ Noctis? And Prompto just palled around with him, just strolled around for years like there was nothing weird about a mage and a mage hunter trainee acting like they were. The only reason that Prompto was any different from the people who had tried to kill Noctis was because of Loqi. Because Loqi had saved him. And in order to save him...

"S-so..." The shakiness in Prompto's voice surprised even him. "So, that night in my dream..."

Loqi slid from the table, using it as support to hurry up to Prompto and wrap him up in a hug. "Was the night we got away. The handler and the owner chased us. We ran through Niflheim until we got cornered, and then-"

Again, it was almost like a flash of memory came back to Prompto. "And then Besithia hit you in the knee with... with something..." he murmured.

"A metal bar. Don't know what it was from," Loqi answered.

Swallowing thickly, Prompto just stood, numb, in Loqi's arms as the memory of the night from his dream came back to him piece by piece. "They thought they had us. They were gonna bring us back and fix your knee, but... but I shot Besithia. Didn't I? D-did I kill him?" he asked.

Loqi nodded against his shoulder. "Yeah."

That was all Prompto could take. He rolled his shoulders, pushing his way out of the embrace with Loqi, and backed up a couple of steps. Vaguely, he was aware that Loqi and Ignis were both reassuring him that everything was okay. That he was still Prompto, that Noctis would still feel the same and that no one would think any less of him for what had happened. For what he'd done. They were probably right. No one would. None of them would, probably. Especially not Noctis. Prompto did, though. Not because of Besithia, or whatever his name was. Because he was a mage hunter, and had his life been any different... he could have been Noctis' enemy.

His hands shook and clenched into fists at the same time, and he took a couple of pathetic steps backward, away from where Loqi and Ignis stood. Ignis stepped forward, but Prompto shook his head no. "P-please don't. I... I just need some time, okay? I need to... I need to be alone, and... and figure out what..."

Shaking his head hard, he let his unfinished sentence hang in the air, backed up a couple more steps. Despite Ignis' attempt at a reassuring call after him, he turned on his heel and ran out of the bar, out onto the Cauthess streets. Where he was going, he didn't know. He just needed to go _somewhere_ and think about everything that Loqi had just dropped on him. Somewhere to be alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we know! And knowing is half the battle... >_> (Don't hate me.)
> 
> Another lovely [fanart](https://twitter.com/celiceys/status/930525793511501826), this one from the lovely [@celiceys](https://twitter.com/celiceys) on Twitter! :D
> 
> ALSO! THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN to the lovely [InterstellarArabella](http://archiveofourown.org/users/InterstellarArabella) for the _gorgeous_ cover art she did!
> 
> I love it so much. I can't get over it. ♥♥♥ 


	12. Devotion

Noctis wanted to say that he wasn't watching the door for one of Ignis, Loqi, or Prompto—mostly Prompto, as much as he cared about his other friends—to return. He wanted to, but he couldn't. When Loqi did come downstairs, without Ignis or Prompto, Noctis was the first one to jump to attention. Especially with the way that Loqi looked almost _panicked_ about something. Rushing across the sanctuary, he was a little bit surprised to see that Loqi was rushing toward him, too. Past Ravus, actually, who just looked at him with a quirked eyebrow and letting him pass to get to Noctis.

If Noctis hadn't worried about Prompto beforehand, he would have started then. Loqi placed a hand on each of his shoulders and immediately took any and all weight from his bad knee. Noctis hadn't realized until then that he'd come down the stairs without his cane until then. With a frown and a sharp gasp of breath, Loqi shook Noctis' shoulders and shrugged off a tug at his shoulder from Ravus.

"Caelum. Don't know where Prom went. Told him some stuff from our past and he didn't take it well. Took off. Specs is following him, but he told me to come down and get you, 'cause you're the only person who can ever get him to listen. You gotta... you gotta find Ignis somewhere in town, okay? And Ignis'll tell you where Prompto went."

Despite an order from Gladio to stay put and let Gladio put his boots back on so that Noctis wasn't walking around Cauthess alone, he resolved not to wait. He couldn't. Gladio could be mad. He probably would be mad. Noctis didn't care. Shaking off Loqi's hands and just barely catching sight of the way that he hobbled over to Ravus' side, using him as a crutch, Noctis took off in a dash up the stairs. He honestly didn't care for a damn that it was a bad idea for him to be walking around Cauthess alone. Prompto would have done it for him, and there was no way that he was just going to sit here and do nothing when Prompto was off somewhere by himself. Noctis didn't know what Loqi had told him, but it was enough to make him react. That was all Noctis needed to know.

He burst out the front door of the bar for the second time in as many days. It was very similar to the way he'd run back to the airship when he'd heard what happened to Prompto the day before in the bar. Now, though, he didn't know where he was supposed to go. The airship was his first stop, all the same. He sprinted the familiar path, though he could already hear Ignis yelling at him for running like he was with his injury still taunting him—it tugged a little bit at the stitches and it hurt like hell, yeah, but Noctis was _pretty_ sure he'd never heard any of them pop or tear—stepping into the airship and running from room to room.

As he walked, he called for Prompto, for Ignis, for anyone who could tell him if Prompto or Ignis were there. Everyone who would have been on the ship was in the bar or somewhere else in the city, though. Heaving a heavy sigh, Noctis turned around and darted out of the airship with similar speed, and then back onto the streets of Cauthess. Some of the buildings here were a little bit taller than in places like Hammerhead or smaller cities. Insomnia had some bigger ones, but Noctis tried not to go there unless he had to. The problem with that was the fact that anywhere that Noctis ran, Prompto or Ignis could be around the corner, turning another corner, staying just out of his sight. Like one of those action sequences from a comedy. Nothing about this was funny, though, and Noctis couldn't even manage a ghost of a smile at the imagery.

Instead, he picked up his pace a little bit. He felt the stitches tugging a little bit, which was a sign that he probably should have stopped, but he couldn't bring himself to. Frowning, he slowed to a stop, looking down each path of a three-way intersection and then smoothing a hand through his hair.

Almost like it was some kind of mocking prophecy, the sky opened up in a torrential downpour. It wasn't like a light trickle of rain, like the ones that Noctis was used to in Insomnia or whatever else. This was a burst of rain, like the sky was trying to get rid of all the water it had in it. He frowned, yanking the back of his cloak up and using it as a makeshift hood. At least until he found Prompto. Or Ignis.

Which way did he want to go first? He took the left path, hoping that somehow he wasn't throwing himself completely off course. It was a dead end, leading down to the end of an alley where Noctis saw a whole bunch of junkies sitting under an awning. No Ignis. No Prompto. Just a group of people who cast him unamused and threatening glares. People that he wanted to get the hell away from. He swallowed nervously, going to the right next. This path branched off into two more paths, and with a frustrated shout that was drowned out by the sound of the rain padding off the metal roofs of the buildings in the area, Noctis turned around and prepared to take the final path.

He didn't even make it one step, though, before the sound of Ignis' voice rang out behind him. "Noct!" Ignis called, from the left path that branched from the one he was on right now. It wasn't moving, _Ignis_ wasn't moving, so Noctis just turned around and looked in the direction that his friend's voice came from.

Sure enough, Ignis stood by an old, rickety fire escape, beckoning for Noctis to come to where he was. Noctis took off in a jogging run in the direction that Ignis waited, releasing the hold he had on his cloak and letting the sopping wet piece of clothing make a wet-sounding contact with the backs of his calves. He ignored it, opting to pick his pace up a little bit and then place a hand against the wall, leaning into it and breathing heavily. "Suh-Specs. Is... is Prompto-"

"You were running again," Ignis stated, narrowing his eyes and glancing down at Noctis' wound. "Much as I would like to be angry, you didn't do any damage to your stitches and the situation sort of calls for it. I will give a more thorough examination later, but... for now..." He turned his eyes up to the fire escape. "I believe that Prompto went up here. I went to the end of the road and both sides are dead ends, so it's highly unlikely that he went there."

Noctis looked up at the rusted fire escape. It wasn't rickety or anything like that, time had just rusted it over. Maybe a few places were less reliable than the rest, but that was pretty much the case with anything like that. Especially when people put the town together the way they had—pieced together from old pre-Cataclysmic relic—and did the best they could to keep them from breaking all the time. That wasn't why he was looking, though. He was looking because he was wondering why Ignis hadn't chased Prompto up the fire escape. Why he wasn't up there comforting Prompto.

Almost as though he'd read Noctis' mind, Ignis extended a hand and placed it on Noctis' shoulder. "Some things, Noctis, he needs you for. I am good at comforting words, absolutely, but I think it would be beneficial for him to speak of this matter with you. I would apprise you of the situation myself, but-"

"But you want Prompto to do it?" Noctis asked.

Ignis nodded. "I will go back to the bar. I don't suspect that I will be needed, because much like it is vice versa, you are more capable than any of the rest of us of pulling Prompto out of his own head. I simply request that you bring him back to the airship. I will gather the others and bring them back there."

Blinking, Noctis arched an eyebrow. "The airship?" Were they leaving?

With a nod, Ignis dismissed him and urged him toward the fire escape. "I will explain everything to you once you pull Prompto out of his own head and return to the airship, alright, Noctis? I promise. Please go. I would wager that he needs you now more than usual." He gave Noctis another gentle push, and only when Noctis started up the fire escape, rain still pelting him in the face as he slowly made his way up the metal steps, did Ignis even begin to retreat.

For a second, Noctis considered turning around, but he didn't. Up the first set of stairs, then the second, and then up the third, which put him right at the crude, metal balustrade that led to the roof. Noctis jumped it easily, his feet making a hollow, metallic thump as he hit the other side. Looking around at the roof—pieced together from old bits of what looked like roofs from old houses—Noctis was surprised to see Prompto sitting up against a small water tank shack. His back was against the wall, his head leaned against the wooden shack and his eyes turned up to the sky. His goggles weren't on, but were instead wrapped around his hat still, and he didn't seem to have noticed Noctis' presence yet.

Slowly, Noctis approached him. The rain was loud up here. Really loud against the metal, honestly, and Noctis could barely hear his own footsteps. That was why it wasn't a surprise when it took Prompto a few extra seconds to hear him. He was almost to the edge of the water tank shack when Prompto looked up, a startled expression in his red, puffy eyes. He reached up to wipe his eyes, then huffed a note when that proved fruitless. Rain replaced whatever tears may have been there.

Noctis didn't hesitate. He lowered himself down to the rooftop to sit next to Prompto, leaning his back against the water tank shack and turning to look at Prompto as he leaned his head back against the building with a heavy thud. It was almost like he just flopped his head back, and Noctis almost wanted to laugh, but something about Prompto's expression made it pretty clear that laughing was a bad idea. Prompto's next words only served to confirm that.

"Shouldn't be here."

It was almost an exact mirror of what Noctis said to him a few days ago, when he'd locked himself in his room. Prompto looked about as miserable as Noctis had then, too. He was still a bit pale, the drug was probably still making him feel pretty sick, honestly, and even in spite of his words, he made no effort to move. Which was why Noctis did. Not away from him, though. Closer. Closer until he could easily wrap his arm around Prompto's shoulders and pull him in all the way so that he was leaning against Noctis' chest. If their roles were still reversed, if Noctis was in Prompto's shoes and vice versa, Noctis wanted to say that he would have resisted, but he knew that was a load of garbage.

Prompto wasn't resisting, either. No, on the contrary, he was leaning a little bit closer, a little bit heavier against Noctis' chest. They were both soaking wet from the rain, but neither of them moved away from each other. They just sat there in silence, and Noctis heard the sound of a choked sob coming from Prompto as he curled against Noctis' side a little bit tighter.

Instinctively, Noctis held him a little bit tighter, and Prompto threw his arms around Noctis' shoulders in desperation, clinging to him like he was afraid that something would happen—that someone would show up or that Noctis miraculously knew what this deep, dark secret was and was planning to walk away from him—and sobbing against his shoulder.

For a time, they sat there in silence, but Prompto was the first one to speak, the one to finally break the silence with a sniffle as he looked up at Noctis' face, cheeks streaked with a combination of rain and tears. "I mean it, Noct..." he muttered, though he contradicted his words thoroughly by wrapping his arms a little bit tighter around Noctis' shoulders. "You really shouldn't be here. With me, I mean. You should... you should leave, or make me leave. Go somewhere safer, that... that, you know... you won't be in danger."

Danger. Dangerous. How many times had Noctis told himself things like that when it came to his own situation? Prompto, though, was pretty much the antonym of dangerous. The kindest, gentlest, softest person who was the human embodiment of sunshine. He loved chocobos more than most people, could bring Noctis a smile on his darkest days, and Noctis was almost positive that, given the chance, Prompto would have the world's biggest collection of dogs. Or dog plushies. Or something. Both, probably. Dangerous didn't even register on the radar when it came to Prompto, if Noctis was being honest.

It made Noctis wonder what, exactly, had given Prompto the idea that he could possibly be dangerous. Whatever it was, it had to be bad. Especially if Prompto was reduced to a crying mess against his shoulder. It wasn't the first time Noctis had seen Prompto cry. It probably wouldn't be the last, either, honestly. This, though... it was obviously really bothering him.

"Why do you think I'd be in danger, being around you? That's such crap," Noctis insisted.

At first, Prompto didn't look like he wanted to answer. He curled into Noctis' chest a little bit more—the buckles on Noctis' cloak had to make it a little bit uncomfortable, really, but that didn't stop him—and sniffled. Whether it left snot behind or not, Noctis didn't care. The rain would clean it, and being there for Prompto was way more important than some dumb cloak that he could just have Iris or Ignis remake for him if the need ever arose. Prompto finally lifted his head, resting his chin on Noctis' chest and shrugging his head to the side. His eyes were miserable and his body language was defeated, but he still managed a tiny, weak smile.

With a shaky breath inward, Prompto mused, "see if you say that after you find out." He sat up straight again, but leaned his head over so that it was resting on Noctis' shoulder. "Remember when we were sitting on the airship, after I woke up yesterday? What I asked you?" he muttered, his voice just barely hitting Noctis' ear around the torrential downpour.

Noctis nodded. "I remember. And I told you that no matter what, I'd still look at you the same." That was true. Of course it was. Prompto could do pretty much anything, but Noctis knew him for who he was. He knew the person inside. Of _course_ he'd never look at Prompto differently. "Prom. You could kill a man and I'd help you find a way to hide the body."

Whatever Noctis expected to hear in response, a choked sob and another attempt to hide a flood of tears was _not_ it. Once again, Prompto lifted his bare hand—the one with the mysterious barcode on his wrist, which was actually uncovered for the first time in a really long time, Noctis noticed—up, and tried in vain to wipe some tears from his eyes. "N-Noct you..." he trailed off, then lifted his knees up to his chest and hugged them. "You don't... you shouldn't say that, okay? 'Cause... what if... what if I did? What if I-"

"What do you mean?" Noctis asked, draping his arm over Prompto's shoulders and pulling him close again.

Honestly, a part of Noctis half expected Prompto to retreat again, but he didn't. He suspected that it was just like Noctis had felt the other day. He'd wanted Prompto gone, for his own safety. At the same time, though... he really just wanted Noctis with him. Much like Noctis had just wanted _Prompto_ with him. For his sanity. For the sole fact that Noctis would be miserable without him. Just like he'd said on the airship: there was no Noctis without Prompto, and whatever Prompto did that he thought was so awful, so terrible, wouldn't change that fact at all.

In a low murmur, Prompto answered, "'cause that's what I did..."

At first, Noctis wasn't sure if he had heard the statement correctly. Had Prompto just told him that he'd killed someone? That... he'd _actually_ killed someone? That didn't change Noctis' feelings, of course. Noctis had meant what he said. He'd find a way, find a place to hide the body if he had to. Still, Prompto killing someone? Was that part of what he'd blocked out from his memory? Was that what Loqi was hiding from him? Despite his shock, he kept the mental awareness to pull Prompto a little bit tighter to his chest, and then lift his other arm to wrap it around Prompto in an attempt at reassurance that he'd meant what he'd said.

Still, a question remained. One that he had to ask. "What do you mean, that's what you did? You..."

"Killed someone. Years ago. I don't know how old I was but it was before we got to Lestallum. B-before Cor found us and..." Before they'd met. Prompto didn't need to finish the sentence. Noctis knew how it was supposed to end. "I killed someone in Niflheim. When Loqi and me were trying to escape. They tried to kill _Loqi_ , and I had to, because-"

Noctis nodded. That made sense. "Because you couldn't let them hurt your brother. That's okay, Prom. H-hey, that's _okay_. Okay? I would never change how I feel about you because of that. Alright? So, don't worry." Hopefully, those words would be enough to reassure Prompto, to remind him that no matter what, no matter _what_ happened, Noctis would never change his mind. Would never change his _heart_. Prompto was his person. His soul mate, both in the platonic sense, and in—he was beginning to see—the romantic sense.

It looked like they weren't, though. Prompto shook his head and pushed just slightly, putting a little bit of distance between them. "N-no. No, it's _not_ alright, Noct. It's not. There's nothing _about_ it that's alright, because I... because I'm..." He sniffled, then sneezed out a little bit of rainwater, huffing an annoyed breath.

"Prompto-"

Prompto shook his head adamantly, then looked at Noctis, an unexpected sadness—anger, even—in his eyes. "N-no. No, Noct, you have to... you don't understand. I killed someone, not just because they hurt Loqi, but because they... because I'm..." His eyes trailed down to the barcode on his wrist and then snapped back up. He didn't meet Noctis', just shook his head miserably and angrily. Finally, his eyes found Noctis, and he met Noctis' gaze squarely. "Because I'm an escaped mage hunter," he spoke in a shaky voice. "Loqi and I both are. They wanted to bring us back in, they hurt Loqi, and I killed my father—my _handler_ , actually—to keep them from taking us back."

Just as quickly as the resolve had risen to tell Noctis everything, though, it looked like it crumbled down, and Prompto broke down in convulsive sobs as he hugged his knees again and rested his forehead against them. "That's why," he murmured, his voice muffled against his knees, "you're not safe with me. That's why I'm dangerous. That's why you shouldn't want to..." He trailed off miserably.

"So?" Noctis replied, and that was all he said at first.

With furrowing eyebrows, Prompto shook his head adamantly, and then blinked hard, showing that he was still a little bit dizzy with whatever drug that guy had put in his drink. "What do you mean _so_?" he asked, annoyance pretty obvious in his tone. "So, I was supposed to be one of the people you hate the most in the world! So, I was supposed to be one of the people who's tried to kill you for your whole life! For all we know, I'm the reason they keep finding you!" The tone of his voice was almost physically painful to Noctis. Never, not even once, had Noctis ever seen him sounding so sad before.

Noctis frowned, moving himself closer to Prompto, and not allowing his best friend to retreat in on himself; not allowing Prompto to think that he was at _all_ to blame for anything that had happened. Other than, probably, keeping Noctis out of the nuthouse or out of a depression that could rival any others in the world. The hug that Noctis gave Prompto then was tight, but also loose enough that Prompto could breathe or escape if he wanted to. His head was next to Prompto's, too, so the next words he spoke were gentle, but he was sure that Prompto could hear him.

"So?" he repeated. "You're not a mage hunter, Prompto. Maybe you were _supposed_ to be one, but you wanted to get out there so badly that you killed someone. You and Loqi _both_ wanted out of that life. You didn't want to be a hunter. You wanted to be you. And you? You're not dangerous, okay? Maybe to bandits or to mage hunters or to anyone who tries to hurt the people you care about, but not to me." Never to Noctis.

Prompto, who moments ago had been adamant about the fact that Noctis shouldn't have wanted to be near him, was throwing his arms around Noctis' neck again and almost knocking him to the roof beneath them. "But... what if-"

Shaking his head, Noctis hugged Prompto back tightly, and felt a little bit better when Prompto rested his head against Noctis' shoulder. Good. Maybe he wasn't going to push away. "What if nothing," Noctis insisted, "okay? You're my best friend. My favorite person in the whole world. And I don't care what you were supposed to be. I..." He paused, pushing Prompto back just slightly so that they were looking each other in the eye again. "Well, I do care. But not in the way you think I should. I care because... I care because it hurts you, and I think that you deserve better." He pushed some of Prompto's rain-matted hair from his eyes. "I care because I care about you, not because I think you're dangerous to me."

With a bitter chuckle, Prompto reached out and pushed some of Noctis' hair from his face, too. "Noct... you're... why are you..." The whole situation had him struggling to finish his sentences.

Shrugging, Noctis moved back toward the wall and pulled Prompto along with him, watching as Prompto leaned against his shoulder again. "'Cause you're the most important person in the world to me." His best friend, definitely, but also more than that. "'Cause I wouldn't be okay if it wasn't for you, y'know? You look at me and you usually don't just see 'mage.' You don't just see this person that's different from everyone else, or someone to be scared of... at least not until, y'know... the other day." His expression went a little sad.

"Right, but I was wrong then. That's not you, and I know it now-"

Noctis laughed. "And plus, there's that," he added, cutting Prompto off mid-sentence. "The fact that I'm up here comforting you, and you still have to try and comfort me somehow. Like, how could anyone like you be dangerous, Prom? You're... you're not dangerous, and maybe you were supposed to be a mage hunter, but you're _not_ one. You're you. You're a treasure hunter and you're a damn good shot with a pistol, and I can't imagine you raising it to someone who didn't deserve it." He turned his head to look at Prompto, though all he could see was wet blond hair because of the way that Prompto was turned.

That was, until Prompto turned his head and looked back at Noctis. Sparkling blue eyes, sad but still smiling a little bit, looked back at him gently. He was still sad. He was still processing what he'd learned, Noctis could tell. At the same time, though, there was something else there, too. Processing, but also hope. A little bit of tentative hope as he searched Noctis' eyes, for what Noctis could only assume was any hint of a lie. Well, if he that was what he was looking for? He'd be looking for a while.

"So, you're really not bothered by the fact that I was supposed to be a mage hunter, then?" Prompto asked. If not for their proximity, the volume of Prompto's voice and the volume of the rain would have made it impossible for Noctis to hear that question. He could hear it, though. Loud and clear, actually.

In response, Noctis shrugged. "I mean, only because it's not fair to you. That the first thing you remembered about where you came from was something like that," he muttered. "But other than that? No. You're you, right?" he asked.

Prompto nodded. "A-and you're you," he murmured.

Nodding, Noctis met his eyes, smiling softly and examining his face. It was probably the most perfect face that he'd ever seen before, honestly. Blue-eyed, freckled and... somehow smiling again. It was slight, just a very little curve of his lips that showed that while he was still hurting, while he was still bothered by what he'd learned, he was okay. That while he was still sad, Noctis' words had taken root in his mind, and he realized that Noctis wasn't afraid of him. That he was no more dangerous to Noctis now than he was before he'd learned that he was "supposed to be" a mage hunter.

"You ask me?" Noctis added. "You weren't 'supposed to be' a mage hunter at all. You ask me, you were supposed to be here with us. With me, y'know? You were supposed to be my best friend. My favorite person in the world and-"

Before he could even finish what he was saying, he felt the weight and pressure of Prompto's weight against him shift. No longer were they hugging, no longer was Prompto leaned against his shoulder. No, instead, Prompto was leaning over him, right in front of his face and with his eyes securely locked on Noctis' eyes. His eyes were searching Noctis' face for something—Noctis wasn't sure what for a couple of seconds—and then, before Noctis had a chance to react, that was when it happened.

In all the time that Noctis had known Prompto, he'd never been smooth. He was clumsy, silly, a jokester, and all of those things combined to make him into Noctis' favorite person in the world to be around. With that in mind, what happened next was absolutely perfect and undeniably Prompto in every single way. Prompto was close to him—practically on top of him, actually—as they laid down on the wet, metal rooftop. And then, just like that, Prompto leaned in and pressed their lips solidly and tightly together. Like it was an action that spoke louder than words. In this case, Noctis guessed that was true enough.

Or he would have, if he was capable of any thought beyond how... really good this felt. How good it felt, despite the slight pain that it brought to his side, to have Prompto's weight on top of him like it was. How _amazing_ it felt to have Prompto kissing him like he was the only person in the world that mattered. Noctis was pretty sure that he could have combusted on the spot, with how good it felt. With how _right_ it felt. With how butterflies had taken up residence in his stomach and were fluttering around like they owned the place.

It wasn't like it was something he hadn't thought about before. He had. Many times. When they stayed up late at night and talked or went through pictures or watched TV together, Noctis thought about it. Definitely. He'd have to be stupid not to. It was something that he'd dismissed as impossible, though. Mostly because of how normal Prompto was compared to him. Now it was coming to light that, maybe, Prompto _wasn't_ so normal. That they weren't perfectly normal, but they were different _together_ , and that somehow made it easier for Noctis to deal with, honestly. Everything was easier to deal with when it happened with Prompto.

And this kiss? With how easy and simple and perfect it felt on its own? Well, the fact that they were easier and simpler together made _that_ easier to deal with, too. Not that it would have been difficult to deal with otherwise. When they stopped kissing, when the innocent lips-on-lips contact stopped, Noctis just looked Prompto in the eye for a second, laughed awkwardly, and asked, "did, um... did you mean to... you know... do that?"

"Yeah..." Prompto answered nervously. "I mean, yeah, I did. But if you didn't want me to, I-"

Noctis cut him off this time, by placing a hand on the back of his neck and pulling him in for another kiss. It was still chaste. Still a simple brush of lips on lips, just with a little bit more pressure this time. It wasn't lewd, wasn't raunchy or the precursor to anything else that people usually did in situations like this. It was just a simple touch of the lips to reassure Prompto that they weren't on two different pages. That it was okay. That Noctis wanted to kiss him as much as, apparently, he wanted to kiss Noctis. His other hand went up to push Prompto's hat from his head and tangle in his best friend's blonde hair.

Maybe a little bit _too_ tangled, honestly, because of the fact that it was soaking wet and the fact that Noctis grabbed a little bit too hard and twisted his fingers in a little bit too much. That was only proven true when he tried to release his grip and tugged on Prompto's hair in return.

"Ow!" Prompto hissed. "Ow, you're pulling-"

Embarrassment flooded Noctis' face as he tried to detangle his fingers. "Shit! Shit, Prom, I'm sorry! I just..." he just wanted to keep Prompto kissing him. Keep him in place.

Prompto nodded once, a simple and staccato gesture, so not to tug at Noctis fingers in his hair even more, and then hissed again when it tugged against Noctis' fingers. "I know, I know, I just... ow... can you... can you get them out or are you really stuck? Because that might make it... might make it really hard to get back down..." he added with a huff of not-quite-laughter.

Even more embarrassment flooded not just Noctis' cheeks, but his whole body, as he tried to pull just slightly and get his fingers out of Prompto's hair. It took... way longer than it should have, and way more declarations of pain and murmured apologies from Prompto. By the time they finally _did_ manage to get Noctis' fingers free, and Prompto's hair free, he felt like he could pretty much keel over from embarrassment at any given seconds. "M'sorry, I-"

But Prompto shook his head, staying in position halfway on top of Noctis, and leaning his head down. "S'alright. It hurt, but... but I... I'm okay. And I'm more thinkin' about what happened before that. Did _you_ mean to do _that_? Kiss me back, I mean? Not tangle your fingers in my hair like you did." He chuckled an awkward note.

Even through the downpour, Prompto's cheeks were a perfect shade of pink, and Noctis found himself smiling again in spite of the situation. The answer was an easy one to say, but Noctis' brain wasn't exactly communicating well with his mouth at the moment, and he just nodded a simple, singular nod, raking his teeth nervously over his lip. It was a yes answer all the same, but one that preserved his feelings and didn't make him seem _too_ eager, just in case Prompto _wasn't_ okay with it for some reason. Still, he'd meant to do it. He'd _really_ meant to do it, and he'd really liked it.

"And... you didn't just do it because I was feeling miserable?" Prompto asked.

Noctis' eyes widened, and he shook his head no. "Of course not. I mean... I wouldn't do that, Prom. Y-you know that." The distance that Noctis kept everyone at kept him from ever really having kissed anyone before. It was his first kiss, and he wouldn't just give it away to anyone. Prompto wasn't anyone. Prompto was Prompto. Prompto was _everything_ , more like.

With an embarrassed laugh and a nod, Prompto shimmied up a little bit closer so that his face was over Noctis'. "So, you really think I'm okay? Even if I was s'posed to be a mage hunter? Even if we were, y'know, s'posed to be enemies?" he asked, his tone quiet. The rain must have quieted down, too, because Noctis could hear him perfectly again.

And in response, Noctis just nodded his head. "If we're supposed to be enemies, I think the world screwed up pretty bad, because you're the furthest thing from an enemy. My best friend. My favorite person," he answered.

Rather than responding with words, Prompto just smiled and leaned in, kissing Noctis once again. Suddenly, it felt like nothing else in the whole entire world mattered but the two of them, right then. He knew, eventually, they would have to leave this rooftop and go back to Luna's bar. For now, though? For now they were here. And for now, this moment was theirs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some fun chapters coming up, friends! :D


	13. Malmalam (I)

Malmalam Thicket was... pretty much the same now as it was ten years ago, Noctis was quickly realizing. It was still humid, sticky, and uncomfortable. The humidity and the heat of the beating down sun was almost enough to make Noctis want to shuck his cloak. Almost, but not quite. At this point, the cloak was as much of his identity as his name, after all.

The Malmalam Thicket trees were still massive, the grass was still emerald green and probably still comfortable to lie down in, like Noctis had done when he was a kid here with his dad. Back then, he'd been filled with excitement and wonder when he looked at the place, but now? Now, in place of that, was a deep down and sinking knot of dread in the pit of his stomach. Why? He didn't know. It wasn't like anything bad was happening. Everyone was okay. Everyone was in one piece, safe, and happy. There was no reason to dread anything, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't help feel like something, somewhere, was going to go wrong.

Noctis wasn't sure where the decision had come from, having Luna and Nyx close the bar down temporarily, and having _everyone_ pile into Gladio's ship to come along for this trip, but it had happened. Luna and Nyx were with them now, and so was Crowe—which seemed to make Iris really happy—and several of the others who _hadn't_ been planning to come along for the ride. The group formed a massive line as they walked from where Gladio had parked the ship in a nearby clearing, through the woods, to get to the mine in the back of the thicket. The trail was long and winding, and not for the first time, Noctis found himself wondering exactly why they hadn't just gone up the hill, to cut through all the middle.

They hadn't, though, and they'd been walking this trail for almost a half hour now. Prompto was, it seemed, back to his old self again. Or, perhaps not _quite_ his old self. There were still times, still moments when Noctis would catch him going quiet and contemplative, staring off into space and likely trying to find other memories somewhere in the darker corners of his mind. Other than that, though, he really did seem like himself. He was laughing, smiling, talking normally, and he even had that same spring in his step. The only problem was that he was outright refusing to talk about the mage hunter business anymore. It was like he wanted to pretend it hadn't happened; that he hadn't learned it.

As though he wanted to prove that point to Noctis even more—try to concern him less, but concern him more instead—he stepped a couple of steps in front of Noctis and turned around, walking backward for a few more steps and locking his hands behind his back. "So after this? Gladio tells me that he was talking to someone in Cauthess that said we were onto something when we were checking out the other side of the Vesperpool. What d'you think? Should we pester Gladio to see if he'll take us over there?" he asked.

Noctis glanced over his shoulder at the rest of the group. Closest behind them stood Gladio, with Ignis and Luna flanking him, and Nyx standing on the other side of Luna. "I mean, if nothing else, I guess we can go that way to check and see if we can find that black chocobo." He turned his head to glance back at Prompto.

Prompto nodded eagerly as he met Noctis' gaze. "Yes! I mean, it's been awhile, so I'm gonna hope that the bird's okay, but... we can also show the others that big building with all the giant stuff we couldn't take back with us. The big thing that looked like a giant metal tree with wires sticking out of it? I dunno how those wires didn't rot away, but..." He shrugged and then smiled with his whole face. "Though, it probably wouldn't fit on the airship, would it? Maybe Specs'll be able to tell us what it is and what it does, though. What it did. Whatever," he waved his hand dismissively, before taking his place back at Noctis' side and throwing his arm over Noctis' shoulders.

With a laugh, that was right on the edge of a soft cough—their rooftop escapade had left Noctis with a pretty nasty cold, that was only now starting to fade a little bit—he nudged Prompto with his hip. "You think we'll find anything else? We didn't really make it too far before it got dark," he reminded Prompto.

"I mean," Prompto mused, his voice still showing signs of his cold in its stuffiness, "for one, there's more of us. Luna and Specs will be able to find stuff no problem. And Lo? He'll _love_ it there. Even if he'll probably have to have Ravus carry him for half the time." He paused, then smirked as he glanced over his opposite shoulder at his brother, who was bringing up the rear of the group. "Then again, that'll prob'ly just make him like it more. I know _I'd_ like it more if _you_ carried _me_."

Snorting a laugh, Noctis pointed at the side opposite where Prompto was leaning, still being supported by his cane. "Yeah, and then Specs'll probably kill us. Both of us. You for suggesting I carry you, and me for actually agreeing to it," he teased, using the position of his hand to push on Prompto's hat and knock the brim of it into his face.

At first, all Prompto did was scoff as he adjusted his hat. Then, he hummed thoughtfully, tapped his chin with his opposite hand, and then nodded. "Y'know, you have a point," he mused. "If anyone should be carrying-"

"Don't..." Noctis shook his head no, though the grin on his face completely belied any frustration in his voice.

Either Prompto didn't hear it or didn't care. He shrugged his head to the side, then tilted so that his arm was underneath Noctis' knees. "What? If Specs would be mad at you for carrying me," he paused, tugging at Noctis' knees and lifting him off the ground, "then he'd _probably_ be glad if _I_ was carrying _you_. Right? I mean... it's just logic." His voice was a little bit more strained now, like he was struggling a little bit to keep his grip on Noctis, but after adjusting for a second, balancing Noctis' weight a little bit, he seemed to have an easier time.

Noctis narrowed his eyes, trying not to smile at the same time, and then huffed, "I swear on Bahamut's blade, Prompto, if you drop me-"

With an adamant shake of his head, Prompto insisted, "I won't! Don't you trust me?" he asked. This time, though, even as he tried to keep his tone lighthearted, Noctis could hear a little bit of sadness there. A little bit of concern that Noctis _didn't_ , in fact, trust him. Residual insecurity because of the whole 'mage hunter' thing, most likely.

Well, it was pointless, honestly. He couldn't have been wronger if he tried. So, Noctis didn't let it take root any more, instead opting to raise his arm and drape it around Prompto's shoulders with a reassuring smile. "More than anyone in the world," he insisted.

The smile on Prompto's face was soft, warm, and grateful. "Good. 'Cause even though you're a _little_ bit heavy? I can totally carry you. It's a chance to work on my arm strength or something." There was a playful, sort of flirty tone to Prompto's voice now, and it made Noctis feel... really good. Really happy. _Really_ glad for this new direction in their friendship, for that matter.

Their friendship. If Noctis were anyone else—if he were just a little bit braver—he probably would have taken that extra step on the rooftop that day and asked Prompto to put a different label on what they were. He wasn't, though, and he hadn't. Not that Noctis _minded_ where they were at, he just wondered if that little sparkle, that little glint that he saw making Prompto's eyes twinkle a little bit brighter, meant what he thought it meant. That this meant as much to Prompto as it did to him. That Prompto's feelings were growing as much as Noctis' were every day. Alongside that, he wondered if this was really the best time, when things kept trying to drag them down.

Now, he didn't want to wonder anything, though. He wanted to enjoy the fun he was currently having in Prompto's arms. So, he did just that.

Over Prompto's shoulder, he caught sight of an amused smirk from Gladio and Luna, a dramatic eye-roll from Nyx, and a huff of concern from Ignis. Noctis only chuckled, then turned to glance at Prompto, who adjusted his grip once again and then picked up his step. "You know, the one reason I'm a little bit bummed that we're not in Cauthess anymore? We didn't get to go on our date." He set his cane on his stomach, propping it up against his leg and shrugging his shoulders.

"Next place we go, then. Or, if we end up camping at the Vesperpool again? You and me can totally ditch the rest of these losers and go fishing or something."

Noctis' eyes shot open in surprise. Prompto was offering to go fishing with him? What was this, bizarro world? Prompto _never_ offered to go fishing with him, but it definitely sounded like he'd just done it. Noctis just stared at him for a few seconds, blinking, and then tilted his head and asked, "who the hell are you and what did you do with my best friend? Because, like... he would never want to go fishing with me. He finds it boring, and has a tendency to jump into the water and scare all the fish away." The smirk wasn't on his lips, no, but it was obviously in his eyes, and Prompto could almost definitely see it.

Especially if the way he threw his head back in exasperation was any indication. " _That was one time!_ " Prompto insisted, making a face. Then, two beats passed, and he shrugged a shoulder. "I figured I could get some shots of you fishing. Maybe you can teach me to do it, too. I promise, I won't jump in the water this time."

Smirking, Noctis nodded and pushed some of Prompto's bangs from his face. "Yeah, alright. Maybe we can ask Specs to make dinner for us." He was going to suggest that they ask Luna for some booze or something, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Prompto wouldn't want to go anywhere near booze for a little while. And even if he did, Noctis didn't really want him to. Not after what had happened.

"Oh man. This is shaping up to be even better than sitting on some roof in Cauthess," Prompto admitted, then stopped short, glancing at Noctis' hands. "Noct..."

At first, Noctis just blinked in the face of Prompto's declaration of his name, but then he followed his friend's eyes down to his own hands, and he rapidly realized exactly why Prompto had stopped so short. They were glowing. His runes were lit up like a fireworks show, and a glance over Prompto's shoulder showed that Luna's were similarly bright. That was... really weird, actually. The last time that he'd been in a situation like this, he'd touched the rocks before he got to this point. His hands had physically been _on_ the rocks. He blinked a couple of times, and glanced at Luna, who was jogging to catch up to them.

When she reached Prompto's side, she asked, "you feel it too, do you not, Noctis?"

Yeah, Noctis felt it, too, and he nodded his head yes as he looked her over. Every bit of uncovered skin was lit up in bright blue runes to contrast Noctis' bright purple ones, and Luna turned to Prompto, asking him to, "stop for a moment, please." Turning to the others, she held up a hand for them to stop, and Noctis couldn't help but notice the concerned looks that everyone was giving them. Especially after they glanced at his hands. "If we run into a situation where battle may ensue? I will ask that you all handle it, please. Noctis and I are... our circumstance is not exactly an ideal one, and while I am sure that he, just as much as I, would like to help you? There is no knowing what our powers will do in a place like this." She turned to look at Noctis, apology in her expression.

She was right, though. Noctis _did_ know what his magic did in situations like this, and it really wasn't good. "She's right," he agreed, glancing up at Prompto and silently suggesting that Prompto put him down. When his feet touched the ground, his cane touched beside them, and he straightened his back even despite the protest his side gave. "This is the exact same way I felt back in the grasslands. That why we, y'know, even came to Cauthess, and-"

Ignis nodded his reassurance and smiled gently. "That's positively fine, Noctis. We are all more than capable of ensuring that no one does any harm. Why, even without the rest of us, Gladio and Iris could take out any combatants that dared to cross our paths." His lips curled into a gentle smile as he glanced sidelong at Gladio.

"Yeah, we got this, until you guys figure out what the hell's making you glow like that." Gladio nodded his agreement, before draping his arm around Ignis' shoulders and pulling him in close. "Unless you know what it is, anyway." His eyes went straight to Ignis, who was always the source of knowledge in situations like this.

Luna spoke up instead, though. "It's the Scourgerock. It acts as something of a magical conduit for a mage's power, and turns us into devastating weapons. The problem here, though, is that there usually needs to be direct touch-contact with a piece of Scourgerock for a mage's power to act up like this, and as you can see by the way we're presently glowing? We are already feeling its affects." She looked concerned, and she, too, looked at Ignis, and then at Loqi. The likeliest two to have done any research into the matter.

The first one to answer was Ignis. "It seems a little bit strange, actually. Unless Niflheim has managed to find a way to put Scourgerock particles into the air, but then anything in the area that is magically charged would be highly dangerous." He tapped his chin, and then gathered a small notebook from his pack. "I've some notes on the matter. It may take time to-"

"You won't need it," Loqi countered, shrugging his head to the side. "Prom, y'know that dust that Cid's got? Powdered Scourgerock. It can be used to make cars go and make any electronics badass, just like it can be used to make a mage go nuts—no offense, Lu or Caelum—because Scourgerock is pretty much... raw power. It's like... if you look close at it? It doesn't look like it's glowing or anything? But you can definitely see the power coursing _through_ it. It's not out of the realm of possibility that someone from Niflheim thought it was a good idea to put that crap into the air..."

Prompto blinked. "How do you know it's powdered Sc-"

Cutting Prompto off with a shrug, Loqi answered, "'cause I gave it to him." He reached into his pack, grabbing a similar pouch to the one Prompto used in the mine and holding it out.

So, the Scourgerock was what was making Noctis feel the energy pulses? The ones he was feeling at the moment were different from the ones he'd felt back in the grasslands, and than the ones he'd felt back when his dad died, but they were very much still there. He tried to think back, tried to make himself remember if he'd ever touched the rocks on the wall here that day. It was hard to remember, honestly. Mostly because he didn't like thinking about being trapped in the cave overnight with his dying father. Still, it was entirely possible that the mine could have been filled with the Scourgerock dust back then, too.

Then, who had sent his dad out here? Was there someone who was trying to set them up, or-

"It doesn't matter, honestly," Loqi insisted, interrupting Noctis' thought process and putting the pouch of Scourgerock powder back into his pack and then rushing up to the front of the group as quickly as his cane would allow him. "All that matters is the fact that Specs is right. You and Luna shouldn't use your magic until we can figure out exactly how haywire it's gonna go. Or until you do a couple tests in places that _aren't_ a cave with limited places to escape."

Luna nodded her head. "Honestly, the latter may be best. Noctis has been in caves or mines every time his magic has acted up like this. Perhaps being out in the open is a safer bet. This way, he isn't in a finite area that can be taken over and leave him with no place to run, and-and I'm essentially repeating what Loqi said. Apologies, Loqi. Noctis, I think you should try. My power is a little bit less of a hazard, but I will try as well, and see what my barriers can do in a situation like this." There was a slight flicker of excitement in her voice, which was equal parts amusing and annoying.

Annoying only because all Noctis could let himself feel was a deep down, gut-wrenching sense of dread. Still, she was right. If he could keep his black hole from spreading too far in a place like this, then he could do it in a cave, right? Breathing a nervous and shaky breath, he glanced at a span of space covered by grass, trees, and a couple of branches. A part of him wondered what would happen to them if he took the ground from underneath them. Would they disappear? Or would they come back when the black hole went away?

His mind was, of course, stalling for time. There was more at stake this time. There were too many people that he cared about surrounding him; too many people at risk if he lost control. As though Prompto sensed his anxiety, his worry about the situation, Prompto placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. The look on Prompto's face was soft and encouraging, and that was what spurred Noctis to believe in himself more than anything else. If Prompto could believe in him, after what had happened in the mine that day, then Noctis could _definitely_ believe in himself. Noctis could _definitely_ do it.

So, he stepped away from everyone—making sure that his back was facing them so that they wouldn't be in the war path of the black hole—then raised his hand into the air and made a small black hole appear next to the trunk of one of the thicket's small trees. The grass in that spot faded into a black hole, which wasn't a surprise of course because that was what he was trying to do. What _was_ surprising was the fact that all the roots near the tree seemed to float above the emptiness that he'd created. They went into the nothing a little bit, but they were solid enough to stay in place, and it showed the group of them exactly how deeply rooted the tree was into that spot.

What was more alarming, maybe, was the fact that the black hole wasn't expanding without Noctis' orders like it had last time. No, it stayed in place, a small little blip of blackness on the otherwise green ground. Noctis simply blinked at it, then tried to _make_ it expand. He tried to _make_ it a little bit larger, and put it even further into the small tree's space.

The result was simultaneously cool and terrifying.

Roots on the other side of the tree must have been holding it in place, because it tilted toward the hole like it was going to fall in, but stayed hooked to the ground _by_ those roots. They were being pulled up, but they _weren't_ breaking. At least not instantly. Noctis was even more alarmed, however, by the fact that the black hole wasn't expanding against his will. If it was because of Scourgerock, and Loqi said that there was Scourgerock in the air? Didn't that mean that it should have been going haywire? Not that Noctis was complaining about the fact that it _wasn't_ , of course. Still. There was a lot he still needed to understand.

One test still remained, though. Noctis thought back to the way the tendrils his magic created had been the reason that his father passed away. The way that they had been strong enough to knock a rock down. They had also lifted both of the bandits that attacked Noctis and Prompto into the air, and then dropped them into the black hole, so they were another pretty strong concern at the moment. With that—and a glance over his shoulder to ensure that no one behind him was too close—he called one forth.

To his surprise, only one came. That was new, in the best possible way, and all Noctis could do was stare in surprise as it stood in place. Luna's lesson hadn't really handled much by way of control. She'd told him not to panic, which he supposed that he wasn't doing, really, but he legitimately wasn't doing anything else different. Did that mean that his magic and his loss of control was solely caused by his panic? That it was _just_ because he was afraid of hurting people, afraid of what the magic could do? If he trusted himself more, if he _listened_ more to what people like Prompto or Luna or any of the others told him...

Did that mean that he could control his magic? _Rather than it controlling me..._ he thought to himself.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he tested this new control by focusing his energy on the one tendril that he'd created and having it reach for the small tree. Maybe it wasn't necessary, but at the same time—for his own sanity and his new, fragile belief in himself—he felt like it was. So, he had the tendril wrap around the trunk of the small tree and tug it into the hole.

"Whoa. Noct! That was badass!" Prompto exclaimed excitedly, bounding forward and placing a hand on Noctis' shoulder.

Prompto still chattered praise in his ear, and it was definitely awesome. It made him wish that he could listen. Instead, all he could do was blink dumbly at where the hole was as he focused his energy and tugged it back away with a loud pop. Several smaller shrubs and little trees that were in the area that Noctis had cleared out were gone, and there was a large clearing now, which Prompto dashed out past him to stand in. Noctis raised his eyes to look at Prompto, watching as he glanced down at a hole in the dirt where one of the smaller trees used to be. He was still delivering words of praise, telling Noctis how awesome he was, but Noctis was still too stupefied to answer.

In fact, he was too stupefied to even notice Prompto bounding across the grass to stop in front of him, until he was already there. With a hand on each of Noctis' shoulders, Prompto shook him lightly and insisted, "c'mon, Noct! That was so awesome!" There was enthusiasm in his voice and in his eyes that was hard to ignore, but... that didn't change the fact that he didn't know how he'd done it.

Raising his eyes to meet Prompto's, he laughed a soft and nervous note. "I mean. I don't know exactly how I did it, but... I guess it was pretty awesome," he muttered. "I didn't do anything different than usual. I didn't even, y'know, feel any weirdness because of the Scourgerock or whatever it is in the air that's making me glow. I feel the effects of it, but I don't feel super surging with energy like I did before and I don't-"

"But that's a good thing, right?" Prompto interrupted, smiling with his whole face and letting his other hand rise to Noctis' shoulder. "Like, a _really_ good thing! Look at you, dude! You just used the power that you were scared of. You just used it and didn't let it scare you and you _did_ it! You freakin' _did_ it Noct! I'm so proud of you!" He loosened his grip on Noctis' shoulders and threw his arms around Noctis' neck to hug him tightly.

It was hard not to feel proud when Prompto put it like that. He still wasn't totally sure it was a huge deal or anything. It was a power that he'd had all his life and he was only now _kinda_ learning to use it at twenty. Still, the fact that he'd just controlled it even when he felt like he was going to burst with energy like he did? That was pretty cool. And okay, he felt _kind_ of good about that. Still, it was hard to fully let himself enjoy it when he still didn't completely understand why it was suddenly working so well. Why he was suddenly able to trust himself. He raised his arms to hug Prompto all the same, his cane dangling from his hand and hitting Prompto's lower back as it hung loosely.

"Noct," Ignis called from his right side, "perhaps it isn't in your best interests to question things like this when they happen, hm? Sometimes, all that you need is the awareness and recognition that you are capable to something. It is very much a mind over matter situation, and you conquered the matter with your mind and made a rather nice camping spot for us when we get out of the cave."

Prompto chuckled and nodded as he released Noctis' neck. "Exactly! Everything except the camping spot, because I have some stuff to discuss with you and the Big Guy, mostly having to do with something Noct and me wanted to ask you if we could do." The excitement was still obvious on Prompto's face as he turned his boundless energy toward Ignis now.

Honestly, Noctis was still sort of concerned about the whole thing _Prompto_ was going through—learning about his past and his father and all of that—but he seemed to be feeling better about it. Enough to smile and laugh as he dashed away to Gladio and started harassing the pirate captain about the Vesperpool adventure. Noctis turned to Ignis, who was tugging his glove from his hand, smoothing his fingers through his hair, and then tugging the glove back on.

Then, he grinned at Noctis. "It would seem that Prompto has grand plans," he mused.

Noctis nodded and laughed softly. "He wants the group of us to go over to the other side of the Vesperpool while we're here," he mused as he glanced over at where Iris was joining Prompto. He didn't stand a chance against the pair of them. "We went over there awhile back and found a whole bunch of relics. We figured that between you and Loqi-"

"We may be able to assess the area for the possibility of a key?" Ignis asked as he turned to look back over his shoulder at the others. "I suspect Gladio will be giving in any moment now, and Loqi will have no qualms with going to a site that allegedly has so much information on pre-Cataclysmic times, so... you will get your wish." He laughed a soft note and then watched as Luna dashed across the short space between them, her runes still glowing bright.

She turned to Ignis. "This is rather peculiar. My barriers are stronger," she mused. "Nyx could strike them twice as hard, for twice as long, with no give. I even had him run into them at full strength-" Her expression went a bit sheepish- "which only served to daze him a bit. The only truly odd thing is the fact that I don't feel the strain whatsoever. I'm not exhausted, I still feel a swell of energy... I suspect that Loqi's assessment of Scourgerock in the air to be closer to the truth than even he believes. We may want to entertain the possibility that someone is mining this cave as well."

Ignis nodded. "I'd thought that, too, when Loqi made the suggestion," he pointed out. "I think we will want our guard up. And to be prepared for anything once we get inside." As he said that, his expression turned to Prompto.

It didn't take a genius to know what he meant, honestly. If the man with the hat had seen fit to drug Prompto, and if he'd been part of a plan to manufacture mage hunters, who was to say that he wouldn't be willing to follow them and continue to dog Prompto? Granted, if he was here, then he more than likely arrived first. It was possible that he was responsible for the Scourgerock mining operation, whatever it was. Noctis turned to look at Prompto, whose mind seemed to be so far from everything that he'd just learned. Was this really such a good idea, if it would bring him back to those thoughts?

"He'll be alright," Luna reassured Noctis. "You'll just need to ensure that he knows that he isn't one of them. That he's one of us. Right?"

That wasn't even a question. Noctis nodded his head. "Yeah," he agreed.

For now, without knowing who was in there, or _if_ there was anyone in there—or if it wasn't just some kind of natural Scourgerock deposit that was making the air weird—Noctis couldn't really do anything but hope to the gods that nothing came of this. He _also_ couldn't help the foreboding feeling he felt as he glanced up at the cave entrance. They'd want their guard up. Noctis was starting to think that maybe he should've had his guard up all the time.

It didn't matter. Whatever happened, he could take it. As long as he and Prompto stuck together, as long as Prompto was _safe_ , Noctis could handle anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be a _teeny_ little break from this work, while I reassess where I want it to go! But I'll be back soon! ♥


End file.
